Mechanics of the Vestibular Organ

Benign Paroxysmal Positioning Vertigo: A Disease Explainable by Inner Ear Mechanics
Karl-Friedrich Hamann

ENT Hospital, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany

Address of Corresponding Author

ORL 2006;68:329-333 (DOI: 10.1159/000095285)

  Key Words

• Benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo
• Inner ear mechanics
• Free otoliths
• Semicircular canals
• Vestibular pathophysiology

  Abstract

Many arguments give evidence that benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo, one of the most frequent kinds of vertigo, can be reduced to mechanical processes in the vestibular part of the labyrinth. Based on the assumption that otoliths have departed from their normally fixed position in the otolithic membrane and travel in the semicircular canals, clinical observations find their explanation. Latency between the onset of a head movement and the beginning of the vertiginous sensation, its duration and the nystagmic pattern provoked by specific head movements are in good correlation with the canalith hypothesis. Further arguments are the successful treatment by liberatory maneuvers, the relatively high number of recurrences and the change of the affected canal.

Copyright © 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Prof. Karl-Friedrich Hamann
HNO-Univ. Klinik der Technischen Universität, Klinikum rechts der Isar, TUM
Ismaningerstrasse 22, DE-81675 München (Germany)
Tel. +49 89 4140 2381, Fax +49 89 4140 4853
E-Mail vertigo.hamann@lrz6.tu-muenchen.de

  Article Information

Published online: October 26, 2006
Number of Print Pages : 5
Number of Figures : 4, Number of Tables : 0, Number of References : 16