The Video Head Impulse Test in the acute stage of posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Objective: Study the high-frequency vestibulo-oculomotor reflex in posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) through Video Head Impulse Test (vHIT).

Methods: 150 patients suffering for the first time from posterior canal BPPV were studied. Posterior canal vestibulo ocular reflex (VOR) gain was analysed through stimulations in right anterior-left posterior and left anterior-right posterior planes before treatment, immediately after resolution of the acute stage and one month later.

The Prevalence of Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency in Meniere Disease: 24-Month Follow-up after Angioplasty.

Purpose: To evaluate relationship between Meniere disease (MD) and chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) using ultrasound, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and venography and to evaluate the effectiveness of angioplasty of the internal jugular vein (IJV) and azygos vein (AV) in reducing symptoms of MD.

Materials And Methods: Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of MD unresponsive to standard treatment underwent duplex ultrasound and MR imaging to diagnose CCSVI. Healthy volunteers were also studied to evaluate CCSVI in asymptomatic subjects.

Diagnosis of CCSVI in Meniere syndrome.

Purpose: The authors have evaluated by ultrasound the CCSVI in Meniere's Disease.

Materials And Methods: 140 patients with diagnosis of Meniere's Disease, who have had not improvement to usual therapy, underwent echo color Doppler sonografy by Zamboni's protocol for the diagnosis of CCSVI . 128 were positive.

Hyperventilation-induced nystagmus in patients with vestibular schwannoma.

Main Objective: To determine the utility of the hyperventilation test (HVT) in the diagnosis of vestibular schwannoma (VS).

Study Design: A retrospective analysis of hyperventilation-induced nystagmus (HVIN) in 45 patients with unilateral VS.

Setting: A tertiary referral center.

A comparative randomized study on the efficacy of a systemic steroid therapy vs. a thermal therapy in otitis media with effusion in children.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a systemic steroid therapy vs. a thermal therapy based on sulphurous water insufflation. The therapy was performed in Telese Terme Spa based on the Salimbani-Politzer technique on children suffering of otitis media with effusion (OME), using the variations of the tympanogram as objective outcome in a short time follow-up.

Utility of the hyperventilation test in the evaluation of the dizzy patient.

Purpose Of Review: The aim of the review is to value the incidence, patterns and temporal characteristics of hyperventilation-induced nystagmus (HVIN) in patients suffering from vestibular diseases, as well as its contribution to the differential diagnosis between vestibular neuritis and schwannoma of the eighth cranial nerve and its behavior in some central vestibular diseases.

Recent Findings: The hyperventilation test seems to be more useful than other bedside tests in detecting schwannoma of the eighth cranial nerve in the case of sudden monolateral hypacusia. The presence of an excitatory pattern of HVIN in vestibular schwannoma that has undergone to stereotactic surgery reveals that this therapy produces demyelinization in neural fibers.

A step backward: the 'Rough' facial nerve grading system.

Objectives: Several modalities currently exist to rate the degree of facial function clinically but even though it has significant limitations, the most widely used scale is the House-Brackmann grading system (HBGS). A simplified scale is introduced here, the 'Rough' Grading System (RGS - Grade I: normal movement; Grade II: slight paralysis; Grade III: frank paralysis with eye closure; Grade IV: frank paralysis without eye closure; Grade V: almost complete paralysis with only slight movements; Grade VI: total paralysis). The aim of the present study was to verify the interrater reliability and the interscale validity of this simplified grading system.