Recurrent vestibulopathy

Abstract

Recurrent vestibulopathy is defined as an illness of unknown cause characterized by more than a single episode of vertigo of duration characteristic of that occurring with hydrops but without auditory or clinical neurological symptoms or signs. Eighty-six patients with this condition were diagnosed in the Dizziness Unit, and data on age and sex distribution, natural history and caloric pattern are presented. On follow-up of mean duration 3.5 year, 6 cases evolved to classic Ménière's disease, and 4 to benign positional vertigo, but none developed brain disease. The prognosis regarding vertigo is generally good. We consider the term recurrent vestibulopathy a logical designation of a distinctive clinical disorder with unknown cause but with probable peripheral vestibular origin, and hope that its use would spur research into previously unrecognized causes of recurrent vertigo.