Vestibular Impairment in Hemifacial Spasm Syndrome: A Case Report.

A 52-year-old man presented with left hemifacial spasm (HFS). A magnetic resonance imaging scan showed compression of the left facial nerve at the cerebellopontine angle by a dolichoectatic basilar artery. The neurotological evaluation showed an otolithic deficit, with canalicular preservation and normal hearing.

Does Asymmetric Hearing Loss Affect the Ability to Understand in Noisy Environments?

Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether, in asymmetric hearing loss, the presence of an ear with a better or worse hearing threshold is related to either better or worse speech-in-noise (SiN) intelligibility.

Materials And Methods: A total of 618 subjects with different degrees of hearing loss were evaluated for their ability to understand SiN. A stepwise forward logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the factors that affect performance.

Normative data for static balance testing in healthy individuals using open source computerized posturography.

Purpose: Computerized posturography is the gold standard for balance assessment. Because of the great cost and dimensions of commercial equipments, low-cost and portable devices have been developed and validated, such as RombergLab, a software in open source term which works connected with a low-cost force platform. The objective of this study was to obtain normative posturography data using this software.

The Diagnostic Usefullness of the Salivary Pepsin Test in Symptomatic Laryngopharyngeal Reflux.

Objective: Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR) is a disease characterized by the presence of symptoms, signs and tissue alterations in the aero-digestive upper tract as a consequence of the gastric contents retrograde movement. In most cases diagnosis is clinical and it is established by the presence of symptoms and endoscopic laryngeal signs. The aim of the study was to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative Likelihood Ratio (LR) of the salivary pepsin assay (PEP-test, RD Biomed, Hull, UK) as diagnostic tool of LPR.

Ipsilesional Nystagmus Induced by Vibration in Subjects With Ménière's Disease or Vestibular Schwannoma.

Objective: To analyze the frequency in which vibration-induced nystagmus (VIN) with ipsilesional direction appears in subjects with Ménière's disease (MD) or vestibular schwannoma (VS).

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

An Iatrogenic Cholesteatoma of the Squamous Part of the Temporal Bone.

A cholesteatoma is a relatively common condition within the middle ear cavity, whereas a cholesteatoma of the squamous part of the temporal bone is an exceptionally rare entity. A case of an iatrogenic cholesteatoma located in the squamous part of the temporal bone is presented, which was revealed by an intermittent purulent discharge from an opening above the right ear 20 years after retroauricular myringoplasty. The diagnosis of an iatrogenic cholesteatoma is often made after several years of evolution, sometimes even at the stage of complications.

Response Over Time of Vertigo Spells to Intratympanic Dexamethasone Treatment in Meniere's Disease Patients.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness and response over time of intratympanic dexamethasone on the symptoms of Meniere's disease.

Materials And Methods: We performed a matched cohort study of 24 patients with Meniere's disease who were unresponsive to initial treatment and underwent 3 sessions of weekly intratympanic dexamethasone injections using a concentration of 16 mg/mL and 24 matched controls with the same characteristics with regard to vertigo spells.

Results: Compared with control subjects, intratympanic dexamethasone injections resulted in a decrease in the frequency of vertigo spells in the first 6-month period.

Increased Velocity Storage in Subjects with Meniere's Disease.

Objective: Velocity storage mechanism is a multisensory rotation estimator; it compensates for errors in the information provided by the peripheral vestibular organs by means of an adjustment in the duration of the vestibular signal. The aim of this study was to determine the activity of the velocity storage mechanism in the presence of a labyrinthine disorder, using galvanic vestibular stimulation to cause direct activation of the vestibular afferent neurons.

Materials And Methods: Forty-one subjects with definite Meniere's disease (MD) and 36 healthy volunteers were evaluated using a 20-s galvanic vestibular stimulation.

Effect of the stringency of conditions on caloric test results in healthy subjects.

The caloric test is widely used to assess vestibular function, but the conditions in which it is performed can vary. Caloric nystagmus obtained in 57 healthy subjects were compared: 24 subjects studied in ideal conditions and 33 subjects in non-ideal conditions. A statistically significant decrease in the slow phase velocity of the 4 irrigations performed on the subjects in non-ideal conditions was observed.