Skull Vibration Induced Nystagmus Test: Correlations with Semicircular Canal and Otolith Asymmetries

Christol Fabre; Haoyue Tan; Georges Dumas; Ludovic Giraud; Philippe Perrin; Sébastien Schmerber

doi:10.3390/audiolres11040056

Skull Vibration Induced Nystagmus Test: Correlations with Semicircular Canal and Otolith Asymmetries

Audiol Res. 2021 Nov 15;11(4):618-628. doi: 10.3390/audiolres11040056.

Authors

Christol Fabre¹, Haoyue Tan², Georges Dumas^{1

3}, Ludovic Giraud¹, Philippe Perrin^{3

4}, Sébastien Schmerber^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital, 801321 Grenoble, France.
² Department of Otolaryngology H & N Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China.
³ EA 3450 DevAH, Development, Adaptation and Handicap, Faculty of Medicine and UFR STAPS, University of Lorraine, 54578 Villers-lès-Nancy, France.
⁴ Department of Paediatric Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, University Hospital of Nancy, 54500 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
⁵ BrainTech Lab., INSERM UMR 1205, 38000 Grenoble, France.

Abstract

Background: To establish in patients with peripheral vestibular disorders relations between skull vibration-induced nystagmus (SVIN) different components (horizontal, vertical, torsional) and the results of different structurally related vestibular tests.

Methods: SVIN test, canal vestibular test (CVT: caloric test + video head impulse test: VHIT), otolithic vestibular test (OVT: ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential oVEMP + cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential cVEMP) performed on the same day in 52 patients with peripheral vestibular diseases (age < 65 years), and 11 control patients were analyzed. Mixed effects logistic regression analysis was performed to assert whether the presence of nystagmus in SVIN (3D analysis) have an association with the presence of peripheral vestibular dysfunction measured by vestibular explorations (CVT or OVT).

Results: We obtained different groups: Group-Co (control group), Group-VNT (dizzy patients with no vestibular tests alterations), Group-O (OVT alterations only), Group-C (CVT alterations only), Group-M (mixed alterations). SVIN-SPV horizontal component was significantly higher in Group-M than in the other groups (p = 0.005) and correlated with alterations of lateral-VHIT (p < 0.001), caloric test (p = 0.002) and oVEMP (p = 0.006). SVIN-SPV vertical component was correlated with the anterior-VHIT and oVEMP alterations (p = 0.007; p = 0.017, respectively). SVIN-SPV torsional component was correlated with the anterior-VHIT positivity (p = 0.017). SVIN was the only positive test for 10% of patients (83% of Group-VNT).

Conclusion: SVIN-SPV analysis in dizzy patients shows significant correlation to both CVT and OVT. SVIN horizontal component is mainly relevant to both vestibular tests exploring lateral canal and utricle responses. SVIN-SPV is significantly higher in patients with combined canal and otolith lesions. In some patients with dizziness, SVIN may be the only positive test.

Keywords: dizziness; skull vibration induced nystagmus; unilateral vestibular loss; vestibular functional tests.