Acute cranial polyneuritis with vertigo after stapedectomy.

Acute vertigo occurring 48 hours after stapedectomy is assumed to be related to inner ear trauma. Similarly, acute vertigo occurring weeks after stapedectomy could be related to a fistula of the oval window. No one has tested the hypothesis that some of these cases could represent concomitant cranial polyneuritis. We report the development after stapedectomy of five cases of acute cranial polyneuritis with vertigo diagnosed by physical examination of the cranial nerves. In another case we determined that vertigo occurring after stapedectomy was not related to concomitant cranial polyneuritis. Although all the patients were treated with corticosteroids, the vertigo resolved within 12 to 24 hours only in those whose vertigo we had ascribed to polyneuritis.