The extent of vestibular impairment is important in recovery of canal paresis of patients with vestibular neuritis

Objectives

We questioned whether the extent of vestibular impairment affected the recovery of vestibular function in acute vestibular neuritis (VN). The objective of this study was to identify how the extent of vestibular impairment influenced the recovery from canal paresis (CP) in patients with VN.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 46 patients diagnosed with acute vestibulopathy between January 2012 and December 2015. Pure-tone audiometry, a caloric test, and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) testing were performed in all patients. Patients were divided into two groups, superior VN and total VN, according to the results of the cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) testing. The caloric test was rechecked 6–12 months after diagnosis and the CP values were compared at 6 and 12 months. The degree of recovery was evaluated by comparing the CP values. We defined good recovery as CP < 25% at follow-up.

Results

We found no significant difference in age, sex ratio, lesional site, or follow-up period between patients with superior VN and total VN. The follow-up CP in patients with superior VN was significantly lower than that in those with total VN. Twenty patients (65%) in the superior VN group exhibited good recovery as did three (20%) in the total VN group; the between-group difference was significant.

Conclusions

We found that CP values recovered well in patients with superior VN. We suggest that the extent of vestibular impairment is important in the recovery of CP in acute vestibulopathy.