Abstract

Background and Objectives: Caloric test and rotatory chair test have been adopted in diagnosing bilateral vestibulopathy. However, most of patients who were confirmed by the diagnostic testing not complained typical symptoms of bilateral vestibulopathy such as ossilopsia and ataxia. Patients who do not have typical symptoms of bilateral vestibulopathy, were often diagnosed with bilateral vestibulopathy by caloric test and slow harmonic acceleration test (SHA). The aim of this study is to assess the clinical features between groups classified according to the caloric test and SHA test, and possibly to investigate the representative test in the diagnosis of bilateral vestibulopathy. Materials and Methods: Seventy-five patients were divided into three groups: (A) patients diagnosed with the caloric test only, (B) patients diagnosed with SHA test only, (C) patients satisfying the diagnostic criteria of both tests. Clinical characteristics, the results of physical examination, hearing test and vestibular function test (VFT) were compared among three groups. Results: There was no difference in clinical characteristics and results of physical examination among three groups. Regarding VFT results, only in step velocity test, The proportion of patients who showed low gain value on both sides were higher in group C than that of group A and B. No difference was observed in the other VFT results among three groups. Conclusion: We could not predict the clinical features of bilateral vestibulopathy by the results of VFT, and could not find preferable test in diagnosing bilateral vestibulopathy.

• Keywords: Bilateral vestibulopathy;Caloric tests;Slow harmonic acceleration test;