COMPARATIVE STUDY OF VEMP AND NEUROOTOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN MENIERE'S DISEASE, IDIOPATHIC SUDDEN HEARING LOSS AND ACUTE VESTIBULAR NEURONAL DISORDER

Abstract

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) are derived from the reflex arc of the saccule which extends over the vestibular nerves, vestibular nuclei and motor neurons, to the neck muscles. In this study, we examined the VEMP in cases with unilateral peripheral vestibular disease. We conducted the analysis in 62 patients with Meniere's disease, 33 with idiopathic sudden hearing loss (ISHL), and 39 with vestibular neuronal disorder (VND).
Abnormal VEMP were recorded in 19 patients with Meniere's disease, 9 with ISHL and 13 with VND. The average hearing levels in Meniere's disease and ISHL patients with impaired VEMP were worse than those in the patients with normal VEMP. The average hearing levels between patients with normal VEMP and those with abnormal VEMP among patients with Meniere's disease and ISHL was significant.
In VND patients, the lesions of the vestibular nerve were evaluated by the caloric test and VEMP recording. Of all the patients with VND, normal VEMP were recorded in 26 patients and abnormal VEMP in 13 patients, and canal paresis was found in 27 patients.
We classified the VND patients according to the results of the caloric test and VEMP. Among the 39 patients with VND, 20 had superior vestibular neuronitis (VN), 7 had superior and inferior VN, and 6 had inferior VN; the remaining 6 patients were labeled as undetermined. The percentage of patients with abnormal VEMP was higher among the VND patients without superior canal disorder than in those with the other types of VN .