Summary:
Atypical instability without signs characteristic of clinically most frequent rotatory
vertigo may manifest some form of otolith disturbance. Standard functional diagnostics
of the vestibular apparatus investigates only functions of semicircular canals,
therefore patients with a disorder of otoliths can by misdiagnosed and considered as
suffering from a functional disease. The previous article dealing with otolith disturbances
has summed up the present view of the problems of their pathophysiology and
symptomatology. In this article discussing otolith disorders, the authors have introduced
paraclinical methods helpful in the specification of diagnostics if any otolith
disorder is suspected of. There are stressed the methods that should be given special
attention due to their simplicity, exploitability and availability.
Key words:
otoliths, otolith disorders, skew deviation syndrome, ocular tilt reaction,
vestibular evoked potentials, subjective visual vertical, cyclorotation of bulbs,
off-vertical axis rotation
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