Vibration-induced nystagmus in patients with chronic unilateral Meniere's disease

Meniere's disease (MD) is one of the inner ear disorders associated with fluctuating hearing loss, vertigo, ear fullness, and tinnitus. Vestibular stimulation delas with the integrity of the peripheral vestibular system and may cause nystagmus due to the functional asymmetry between right and lef peripheral vestibular system. This study aimed to assess the vibration-induced nystagmus (VIN) in patients with chronic unilateral MD and investigate the effectiveness of this test in detecting the affected ear in these patients.

This study was conducted on 29 patients with chronic unilateral MD. For this purpose, spontaneous nystagmus (SN) and VIN at frequencies of 30 Hz and 100 Hz were recorded by videonystagmography test under five recording conditions. The vibratory stimulation was presented to both healthy and affected ears. Collected were analyzed in SPSS v.22 software.

Vibratory stimulation compared to the unstimulated condition, revealed a significant difference in eye movements for both healthy and affected ears. Moreover, the difference between VIN and SN in the affected ear was much greater than in the healthy ear.

In patients with chronic unilateral MD, 100 Hz vibratory stimulation of the affected ear induces more reliable nystagmus than 30 Hz stimulation and unstimulated condition. The VIN test can be used for the evaluation of the vestibular system function and is a promising technique to detect the MD ear.