Abstract
Vertigo reduces the quality of life of many patients, and may be associated with life-threatening disease. Physicians must correctly diagnose the cause of vertigo and administer adequate therapy to patients with this condition. Although the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has facilitated the diagnosis of dangerous vascular
accidents in the central nervous system, it continues to be difficult to make a correct diagnosis in many cases.
This review describes the characteristics and the cues for the diagnosis of such vertiginous disease, especially
Ménière’s disease and vestibular migraine with frequent episodic history. These two diseases have similar symptomatic aspects and the diagnostic criteria are not sufficient. However, the International Classification of Vestibular
Disorders committee recently described new diagnostic criteria for these vestibular diseases, based on longitudinal
data. Further development of MRI techniques for demonstrating inner ear hydrops may be useful in the diagnosis
of Ménière’s disease in the near future.
