Diagnosing Stroke in Acute Vertigo: Sensitivity and Specificity of HINTS Battery in Indian Population.

Introduction: Most patients presenting with acute vertigo are believed to suffer from acute, self-limited, presumed viral or post-viral vestibular neuritis (VN). But 25% of such cases can be "Pseudo VN", and are due to central causes, most often stroke. The aim of the present research was to study the sensitivity and specificity of Head Impulse, Nystagmus, Skew deviation (HINTS) battery for diagnosis of stroke in patients with acute-onset first episode of spontaneous vertigo.