Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials versus vestibular test battery in patients with Meniere's disease.

OBJECTIVE: The present study was undertaken to assess the sensitivity of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials testing to side-of-disease in Meniere's disease patients and to test the hypothesis that information supplied by vestibular evoked myogenic potentials is complementary to that provided by a conventional vestibular test battery.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.

SETTING: Large specialty hospital, department of otolaryngology.

SUBJECTS: Twenty consenting adults (9 men and 11 women) with unilateral Meniere's disease by American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery diagnostic criteria.

INTERVENTIONS: All subjects underwent bilateral vestibular evoked myogenic potentials testing using ipsilateral broadband click and short-toneburst stimuli at 250, 500, and 1,000 Hz. All subjects also underwent electronystagmography and sinusoidal vertical axis rotation testing.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Accuracy of side-of-disease assignment by vestibular evoked myogenic potentials, caloric asymmetry, and multivariate analysis.

RESULTS: Side-of-disease assignment was most accurate using caloric asymmetry with a 5% interaural difference criterion, achieving 85% correct assignment. The next best method was vestibular evoked myogenic potentials using 250-Hz toneburst stimuli, achieving 80% correct assignment. The least accurate method was caloric asymmetry using a traditional 30% interaural difference limen, achieving 55% correct assignment. Comparison of 5% interaural difference criterion and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials using 250-Hz toneburst stimuli showed discordant results, but in no case did both 5% interaural difference criterion and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials using 250-Hz toneburst stimuli make an incorrect assignment.

CONCLUSION: Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials threshold was shown to be highly sensitive to side-of-disease in unilateral Meniere's disease. We observed instances of discordance in side-of-disease assignment by caloric asymmetry and vestibular evoked myogenic potential methods but no case in which both methods were incorrect. This supports the hypothesis that vestibular evoked myogenic potentials supplies information complementary to that provided by other components of the vestibular test battery.