Treatment of posterior semicircular canal benign positional paroxysmal vertigo

ABSTRACT

This is a prospective study on 72 consecutive patients suffering from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo [BPPV] of the posterior semicircular canal. The study aimed at assessing the efficacy of the modified Epley maneuver for the treatment of BPPV and at evaluating the use of a mastoid vibrator on the treatment outcome and the recurrence of the disease. Other factors that might play a role on treatment success or disease recurrence were also studied. Using the Epley maneuver and without the use of the vibrator, 77.7% of patients were cured and 17.8%-improved, while 4.5% showed no improvement. In these cases, recurrence occurred in 8.9% of patients. Using a vibrator, 85.2% of the patients were cured and 14.8% improved, whereas recurrence in this group of patients occurred in 22.2%. The differences between both groups were not statistically significant. The overall recurrence in our series was 13.9% after an average follow-up period of 3 months. In the overall results, post-traumatic cases had significantly higher recurrences when compared with idiopathic cases. Other factors such as age, severity of the condition and duration of symptoms had no significant effect on the treatment success or on the recurrence of the disease