Magnetic Resonance Imaging Fails to Show Evidence of Endolymphatic Hydrops in a Case with Tumarkin's Otolithic Crisis

Tumarkin's otolithic crisis refers to drop attacks that are an unusual manifestation of Meniere's disease. It has been proposed that these drop attacks result from mechanical deformation of the otolithic organs related to the endolymphatic hydrops that occurs in Meniere's disease, as revealed by MRI with intratympanic gadolinium enhancement. Here we report a patient with Tumarkin's otolithic crisis in whom inner-ear MRI with intratympanic gadolinium administration during the acute attack did not reveal the presence of endolymphatic hydrops.

Tumarkin Otolithic Crisis Controlled by Endolymphatic Sac Surgery / 대한평형의학회지

Turmarkin otolithic crisis is a rare feature of Meniere's disease. It shows sudden falling to the ground with no warning sign. It is an otologic emergency because of the risk of falling, and it has traditionally been treated with labyrinthectomy or vestibular neurectomy. We experienced a 49-year-old male suffering from recurrent drop attack, and found that he had hearing loss, tinnitus or recurrent vertigo on his left ear, and could make a diagnosis him as Tumarkin otolithic crisis. We have performed the endolymphatic sac decompression, considering the hearing preservation and therapeutic opinion of patients. Two years after surgery, he showed intermittent, mild dizzy symptoms, without further drop attack. Therefore, we report our clinical experience with a brief review of literature.

A Case of Tumarkin Otolithic Crisis: Failed to Treat with Intratympanic Gentamicin Injection / 대한평형의학회지

Tumarkin otolithic crisis is an unusual manifestation of Meniere's disease that shows sudden falling without loss of consciousness. As a kind of life-threatening otologic emergency due to high risk of injury, the surgical ablation therapy rather than the medical one is preferred. Intratympanic injection of gentamicin (ITIG) is being introduced as a treatment by chemical ablation of vestibular function. The authors report a case of life-threatening Tumarkin otolithic crisis in 76-year-old female, after onset of Meniere's disease, failed to treat with multiple application of ITIG, and successfully eradicated the symptom with total labyrinthectomy after then. Also we introduce her clinical feature of Tumarkin otolithic crisis. A 76-year-old female visited clinic suffering from recurrent rotatory vertigo accompanied with fluctuating hearing loss and tinnitus on her left ear, and diagnosis of Meniere's disease was made. Four months after medical treatment, the patient experienced sudden drop attack during walking on the street without any prodromes, and her right wrist and skull base were fractured as a result. She denied to got surgery and ITIG was applied. During 1 year after initial drop attack, she experienced 7 times of severe drop attack and 4 times of ITIG, and finally she accepted to get surgery. The patient no longer suffered from drop attack after total labyrinthectomy later. Tumarkin otolithic crisis is an otologic emergency, may cause life-threatening falling. Our experience from this case is that vestibular ablation by surgical method is needed for safety and quality of life of patients.

Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential in Meniere's Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Acoustic stimulation of the saccule can evoke the vestibulocolic reflex and the inhibitory potential can be measured in the ipsilateral sternocleidomastoideus as a vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP). We investigated the saccular dysfunction in patients with Meniere's syndrome by using VEMP, and correlated the findings with those of other vestibular function tests. METHODS: Thirty-six patients, 29 with Meniere's disease and 7 with delayed endolymphatic hydrops, underwent interictal VEMP. Eight patients reported Tumarkins otolithic crisis. The patients also had a bithermal caloric test, testing of the subjective visual vertical (SVV), and brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) in addition to pure tone and speech audiometry. RESULTS: Abnormal VEMP was observed in 21 (58.3%) patients. All the patients with abnormal VEMP showed decreased amplitude or absence of VEMP in the lesion side. Three of them also exhibited delayed p13 or n23 latency. The VEMP was abnormal in four of the 13 patients with normal calorics, 13 of the 21 with normal SVV, and 11 of the 21 with normal BAEP. The abnormal VEMP was more common in patients with delayed endolymphatic hydrops (71.4%) and Tumarkins otolithic crisis (75.0%), but without statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: VEMP detects saccular dysfunction in Meniere's syndrome. The abnormal VEMP in some patients with normal calorics, SVV or BAEP suggests differential involvement of the vestibular subsystem in Menieres syndrome especially in the early stage.