Application of vestibular autorotation test in the rehabilitation of patients with vestibular neuritis

Abstract

Objective To analyze the characteristics and clinical significance of vestibular autorotation test (VAT) in patients with vestibular neuritis (VN) and the role of VAT in vestibular rehabilitation. Methods A total of 42 patients with VN (VN group) from September 2016 to December 2017 and 37 healthy employees (control group) in our hospital were enrolled in this study. Patients were treated with drug treatment (N = 21, drug group) and drug treatment combined with vestibular rehabilitation (N = 21, combined group). VAT was performed in 42 patients and 30 healthy controls. The parameters including gain, phase and eye asymmetry were evaluated. The positive result of test could be defined if any of the parameters was abnormal, which indicated abnormal functional status of semicircular canal at high-frequency range (2-6 Hz). Results In VN group, the proportion of decreased gain was 73.81% (31/42), the proportion of prolonged phase was 61.90% (26/42) and the proportion of eye asymmetry was 19.05% (8/42). Compared with control group, there was significant difference on decreased gain (χ2= 17.890, P = 0.000) and prolonged phase (χ2 = 12.446, P = 0.001), but no significant difference on eye asymmetry (χ2 = 0.010, P = 0.920). Three months after vestibular rehabilitation treatment, VAT showed the decreased gain and prolonged phase in combined group recovered to normal range, and the occurrence rate of decreased gain (χ2 = 8.005, P = 0.005) and prolonged phase (χ2 = 8.400, P = 0.004) was significantly lower than that in drug group. Conclusions VAT can analyze the high-frequency semicircular canal function of patients with VN and evaluate the effect of vestibular rehabilitation. Early vestibular rehabilitation can improve the prognosis of VN patients. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2019.02.005

Keywords

• Vestibular neuronitis
• Vestibular function tests
• Rehabilitation