Vestibular recruitment: new application for an old concept

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Vestibular recruitment: new application for an old concept Via Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial Braz J Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 May 7:S1808-8694(21)00078-1. doi: 10.1016/j.bjorl.2021.04.006. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Vestibular recruitment is a sign of hyperexcitability of central vestibular neurons and may be characteristic of peripheral vestibular damage. OBJECTIVE: To define the post-caloric recruitment index and its ability to predict the stage of vestibular compensation and peripheral lesion. METHODS: First of all, we demonstrated that larger values in the cold post-caloric stimulation compared to warm stimulation were equivalent to vestibular recruitment observed during the sinusoidal harmonic acceleration test. In the next step, patients with vestibular complaints and asymptomatic controls were submitted to the caloric test. We calculated post-caloric recruitment index for the control group. Among the study group, we analyzed the relation between post-caloric recruitment and unilateral weaknes s as well as the types of vestibular diagnoses. RESULTS: Mean post-caloric recruitment was 17.06% and 33.37% among the control and study group, respectively. The ratio between post-caloric recruitment and unilateral weakness was 1.3 in the study group. Among recruiting subjects, no significant difference of unilateral weakness from the lesioned or healthy side was observed. We found no differences in vestibular diagnoses between recruiting and non-recruiting subjects. CONCLUSION: Post-caloric recruitment index identified asymmetric vestibular tonus and central compensation. The normal value was established at 17.06%. PMID:34016567 | DOI:10.1016/j.bjorl.2021.04.006 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.