Authors: O A Somefun O S Giwa B A Bamgboye I Irene OkekeIgbokwe A A Abdul Azeez
Publish Date: 2010/05/13
Volume: 267, Issue: 10, Pages: 1515-1521
Abstract
Dizziness is not an uncommon complaint in the Otolaryngological clinics among other symptoms To a large number of practitioners the treatment of dizziness remains the same irrespective of the etiology ie antivertiginous drugs The objective of this study was to document the evaluation causes and treatment of vestibular disorders among our patients The design includes descriptive prospective study conducted in the Otorhinolaryngology and Orthopedic Clinics of Lagos University Teaching Hospital Lagos and Nigerian Army Audiological Centre 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital Yaba Lagos Nigeria Adult patients referred to the audiology clinic for dizziness had detailed history obtained by using structured questionnaire General physical and neurootological examinations were done Clinical diagnoses were made on standardized criteria The patients had hearing evaluation videonystagmography VNG evaluation using infrared videonystagmography system Xray of the cervical spine and computerized tomogram scan of internal auditory meatus and brain when indicated were done A total of 102 patients were seen with age range between 21 and 90 years Thirty patients 294 recorded average duration of episode of vertiginous attacks in seconds 69 676 recorded within minutes to hours and 3 29 with no definite pattern Clinical signs on neurootological examination were elicited on 39 382 of the patients while on VNG the vestibular subtest mainly caloric test was abnormal unilaterally and bilaterally in 47 461 while with the oculomotor subtests smooth pursuit tests were abnormal in 5 69 saccade tests were abnormal in 8 78 and OPK were abnormal in 9 88 Peripheral vestibular disorders are common of which benign paroxysmal positional vertigo BPPV was seen in 29 284 Meniere’s disease in 22 216 recurrent vestibulopathy in 20 196 cervical vertigo in 18 176 psychogenic vertigo in 2 2 vestibular schwannoma barotraumas and druginduced vertigo in 1 1 respectively central vestibular disorders of vascular origin 2 2 vertebrobasilar insufficiency in 1 1 posttraumatic vertigo in 3 3 and unknown in 2 2 In conclusion peripheral vestibular disorders are common of which BPPV is the most prevalent Prereferral antivertiginous medication is common among general practitioners The practising ORL/Head neck surgeon and orthopedic surgeons must be conversant with the tools of diagnosis differential diagnosis and treatment
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