Caloric testing. 3. Patients with peripheral and central vestibular lesions

Abstract

Results of bithermal caloric testing in 83 patients with unilateral peripheral vestibular disease, cerebellopontine angle tumors and vertebrobasilar insufficiency were compared in order to find which response measurements identified the most abnormal responses in each disease category. A laboratory digital computer was used to quantitatively assess each caloric response and a large digital computer was used to statistically compare 110 measurements generated from each caloric test. Of the commonly used response parameters maximum slow component velocity (SVMx) and sum of slow amplitudes (SSA) were most sensitive in each category and duration of response (TDUR) was least sensitive. This order was maintained for the vestibular paresis (VP), directional preponderance (DP) and temperature effect (TE) formulas. The magnitude of DP was significantly correlated with the magnitude of spontaneous vestibular nystagmus and both occurred with approximately the same frequency in peripheral and central disorders. There was no reliable way of separating end-organ from VIII nerve or peripheral from central disorders on the basis of the caloric responses.