Affected side influences central compensation after vestibular neuritis

Introduction:

Vestibular neuritis (VN) as an acute peripheral vestibular disorder is one of the most common causes of vertigo. Apart from vertigo, patients suffer from unsteady gait and stance. The primary purpose of this study was to find out whether the patients showed a shift of the body's centre of gravity towards the affected side.

Methods:

A retrospective analysis of patients suffering from VN who had undergone a computerized dynamic posturography (CDP, EquiTest, Neurocom) was conducted. The collected data was compared to age-specific default values.

Results:

206 patients (117 female) were part of the study. The patients' average age was 51.7 years. 56.8% of the patients were affected by the VN on the right side. The time elapsed between onset of vertigo and the CDP was on average 6.7 days. The conditions 2, 5 and 6 of the Sensory Organisation Test showed significantly worse results for all patients with VN than the default group.

The weight symmetry analysis showed that patients with a VN shifted their body weight to the affected side. Further analysis revealed that the test results in case of a VN on the right side differed considerably less from the default group than if the lesion was on the left side. Here, significant differences (p < 0.001) from the default group were evident.

Conclusions:

According to the results of the CDP the side affected by VN has a remarkable effect on central compensation.

Publikationsverlauf

Publikationsdatum:
23. April 2019 (online)