Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2024 May 17;103(20):e38149.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000038149.

A rare case report of bilateral vestibulopathy due to otosyphilis

Huanhuan Gu  1 , Yixin Xu, Jin Xu, Jianhua Zhuang
Affiliations
Case Reports

A rare case report of bilateral vestibulopathy due to otosyphilis

Huanhuan Gu et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .

Abstract

Rationale: Bilateral vestibulopathy is an important cause of imbalance. There are multiple etiologies of bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP), but reports of BVP due to otosyphilis are rare.

Patient concerns: A 39-year-old male was referred to our medical center due to vertigo, persistent dizziness and gait disturbance for 2 months.

Diagnoses: Bilateral vestibulopathy due to otosyphilis was considered in this case, as confirmed through analyses of vestibular function, laboratory tests, and penicillin treatment.

Interventions: The patient was was treated with a high dose of penicillin G (24 × 106 IU/d) for 14 days.

Outcomes: The patient's symptoms had improved greatly following treatment, with dizziness and gait disturbance having completely resolved at 3 months following hospital discharge.

Lessons: Bilateral vestibulopathy should be considered when evaluating patients with acute or subacute persistent dizziness. Clinicians should also be aware of the potential for otosyphilis among patients who report BVP.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Video head impulse test. The data revealed an obvious decrease in vestibulo-ocular reflex gains in the bilateral horizontal, posterior, and anterior semicircular canals.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Caloric test results. No response was observed for either caloric test.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Strupp M, Kim JS, Murofushi T, et al. . Bilateral vestibulopathy: diagnostic criteria consensus document of the Classification Committee of the Bárány Society. J Vestib Res. 2017;27:177–89. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Reich SG, Boatman-Reich D. Causative factors and epidemiology of bilateral vestibulopathy in 255 patients. Ann Neurol. 2007;62:530; author reply 530. - PubMed
    1. Jackson DA, McDonald R, Quilter LAS, Weinstock H, Torrone EA. Reported neurologic, ocular, and otic manifestations among syphilis cases-16 states, 2019. Sex Transm Dis. 2022;49:726–32. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Theeuwen H, Whipple M, Litvack JR. Otosyphilis: resurgence of an old disease. Laryngoscope. 2019;129:1680–4. - PubMed
    1. Amidou Abdul K, Silva L, Perez J. A rare cause of acute bilateral hearing loss: otosyphilis. Cureus. 2020;12:e11243. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Supplementary concepts