Publications by authors named "Silvia Gagliardi"

Purpose: To investigate the possibility of vestibular damage in a group of patients suffering from chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) using a diagnostic protocol including the caloric test, C-VEMPs and O-VEMPs.

Methods: Twenty patients suffering from CIDP (mean age 58.5 years, range 33-80 years; 4 women and 16 men) were investigated.

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Objective Usher's syndrome type II (USH2) is characterized by moderate to profound congenital hearing loss, later onset of retinitis pigmentosa, and normal vestibular function. Recently, a study investigating the vestibular function of USH2 patients demonstrated a pathologic response to vestibular tests. In this cross-sectional study we performed vestibular tests of a group patients with genetic diagnosis of USH2 syndrome to demonstrate if vestibular damage is present in USH2 patients.

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Objective: The Usher's syndrome (USH) is composed of a group of inherited disorders characterized by a dual sensory impairment of the audiovestibular and visual systems. Despite the established hearing loss, few authors have investigated vestibular dysfunction in these patients.The aim of this article is to investigate otolith or ampullary dysfunction in a group of patients affected by USH by means of a diagnostic protocol using caloric vestibular tests, cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (C-VEMPs), ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (O-VEMPs), and video head impulse test (v-HIT) to show any selective damage of the vestibular nerve and also to identify if it is present in patients with a previous diagnosis of USH Type II.

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The aim of this paper was to evaluate prospectively, in a group of patients affected by VN, a diagnostic protocol employing C-VEMPs, O-VEMPs and vHIT together. The diagnosis of vestibular neurolabyrinthitis was based on the clinical history, absence of associated auditory or neurological symptoms, and a neuro-otological examination with an evaluation of lateral semicircular canal function using the Fitzgerald-Hallpike caloric vestibular test and ice test. Our series revealed an incidence of 55% of superior and inferior vestibular neurolabyrinthitis, 40% of superior vestibular neurolabyrinthitis and 5% of inferior vestibular neurolabyrinthitis.

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Objective: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) represents a group of inherited disorders in which abnormalities of the photoreceptors lead to progressive visual loss. Night blindness, peripheral visual field loss, and eventual total blindness represent typical visual damage of such disease. No study has previously evaluated the presence of a "latent" vestibular deficit in patients with RP.

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Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate prospectively, in a group of patients affected by vestibular neurolabyrinthitis (VN), a diagnostic protocol including cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (C-VEMPs), ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (O-VEMPs), and the video head impulse test (vHIT).

Methods: The diagnosis of VN was based on the patient's clinical history, an absence of associated auditory or neurologic symptoms, and a neuro-otological examination with an evaluation of lateral semicircular canal function by use of the Fitzgerald-Hallpike caloric vestibular test and the ice test.

Results: In our series, 55% of the cases were superior and inferior VN, 40% were superior VN, and 5% were inferior VN.

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Objectives: The diagnosis of vestibular neurolabyrinthitis is based on the sudden appearance of vertigo that lasts for hours or days without associated cochlear or central nervous system signs or symptoms. The advent of the video head impulse test, cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential testing, and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential testing has provided interesting clinical evidence for evaluating and monitoring the damage to specific compartments of the vestibular apparatus. These various methods of testing individual end-organ functions may have a clinical impact on the vestibular workup of neurolabyrinthitis.

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Hypoglycaemia, common in diabetic patients treated with insulin, can induce various neurological disturbances. Of these, seizures are the most common acute symptom, mainly of the generalised tonic-clonic type, with focal events only exceptionally being reported and documented. Hypoglycaemia can modify cortical excitability by determining an imbalance between excitation and inhibition; some brain structures, such as the temporal lobe and hippocampus, appear to be particularly susceptible to this insult.

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Objectives: The present investigation was specifically designed to evaluate the clinical application of vestibular evoked periocular potentials (VEPPs) in the diagnosis of endolymphatic hydrops.

Methods: We compared the results of the traditional pure tone audiometry glycerol test with those of the vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) glycerol test and the VEPP glycerol test in 22 patients affected by unilateral endolymphatic hydrops.

Results: Some patients had positive depletive tests with both VEMPs and VEPPs, and other patients had positive tests with either VEMPs or VEPPs.

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