The incidence of vestibular neuritis in Italy.

Objective: This study aims to estimate the incidence of Vestibular neuritis (VN) in three different districts in Italy, its epidemiological features, and the prevalence of comorbidities associated with it. Methods: An observational prospective study of 198 patients referred to ENT departments in Siena, Grosseto, and Cuneo was carried out over a 2-year period. Each patient underwent a complete otoneurologic examination in the first 48 h from the onset of symptoms and a brain MRI in the early stages of the disease. The follow-up lasted for 1 year. Results: The total VN incidence rate of the three municipalities was 48.497 (95% CI: 48.395-48.598) and its standardized value was 53.564 (95% CI: 53.463-53.666). The total VN incidence rate for the whole sample (municipality and district of the three centers) was 18.218 (95% CI: 18.164-18.272), and its standardized value was 20.185 (95% CI: 20.129-20.241). A significant difference was highlighted between patients living in the city compared to those living in the surrounding area (p < 0.000), this may be due to the ease of reaching the otoneurological referral center. Conclusion: The total incidence rate for the three municipalities was 48.497. This result is higher than previously reported studies.

The functional head impulse test: Comparing gain and percentage of correct answers.

OBJECTIVES: The video head impulse test (vHIT) provides as output a gain value that summarizes the behavior of the vestibulo-ocular reflex as the ratio of a measure of eye movement to the corresponding measure of head movement and is not directly informative of the functional effectiveness of the motor response. The functional HIT (fHIT) is based on the ability to recognize the orientation of a Landolt C optotype that briefly appears on a computer screen during passive head impulses imposed by the examiner over a range of head accelerations; accordingly fHIT is a functional measurement of the vestibular-ocular reflex since it measures the capability to keep clear vision and to read during head movement. METHODS: We compared the results of the fHIT with those of the vHIT and the results of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) questionnaire in a group of 27 vestibular neuritis patients recorded acutely and at 3-months follow-up. RESULTS: Both the vHIT and fHIT exams correctly classified all patients as abnormal on the affected side when tested in the acute phase. After a 3-month follow-up, both were able to show that compensation phenomena had occurred. Otherwise the data from the two techniques were not correlated. More specifically, the fHIT detected more abnormalities than the vHIT, for head rotation toward the healthy side, both in the acute phase and after 3 months, and for head rotation toward the affected side after 3 months. The asymmetry indices, that compare the performance of the healthy to the affected side, also were larger for the fHIT than for the vHIT both at onset and after 3 months. There was no significant correlation between the different vHIT and fHIT parameters and indices, or with the DHI values after 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: The fHIT data are able to detect a difference between the healthy and the affected side in the acute phase, and they show an improvement after 3 months. fHIT detects more abnormalities than vHIT, but both these techniques lack a correlation with the DHI score.

Patient Perceptions of Effectiveness in Treatments for Menière's Disease: a National Survey in Italy.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to investigate current treatment practices and self-reported effectiveness in Ménière's disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Members of two Italian Ménière's disease support (n=170) with ≥6-month history of Ménière's disease were administered an online survey about recent treatments. Vertigo episode count, work absenteeism, and limitations in family life, social life, work, or travel as included in the Social Life and Work Impact of Dizziness Questionnaire before and after recent treatments were queried. RESULTS: Twenty-four different treatments were reported for Ménière's disease, with dietary modifications (55%), diuretics (47%), and betahistine (41%) being the most common. The majority (71%) received multiple simultaneous treatments. Prior to the most recent treatments, 78%-89% of respondents indicated limitations in family or social life, work, or traveling. After their most recent treatment, respondents reported improvements in mean vertigo episode counts (5.7±7.6 vs. 2.6±4.6, p<0.001), days off work per month (10.1±9.2 vs. 4.2±6.7, p<0.001), and proportions indicating limitations in any functional measure assessed (p<0.05). These findings were consistent regardless of treatment approach (p<0.05 for all). Intratympanic gentamicin provided the greatest reductions in vertigo count, functional limitations, and work absenteeism (p<0.01 for all), as well as the fewest respondents reporting post-treatment functional limitations (16%-37%). CONCLUSION: Despite many treatment approaches targeting different proposed pathophysiology for Ménière's disease in this cross-sectional survey, all treatments are reported as effective by patients. These findings support a prominent placebo effect in Ménière's disease and highlight challenges in studying treatment outcomes; there is a critical need to better understand Ménière's disease.

The functional head impulse test: preliminary data.

The functional head impulse test is a new test of vestibular function based on the ability to recognize the orientation of a Landolt C optotype that briefly appears on a computer screen during passive head impulses imposed by the examiner over a range of head accelerations. Here, we compare its results with those of the video head impulse test on a population of vestibular neuritis patients recorded acutely and after 3 months from symptoms onset. The preliminary results presented here show that while both tests are able to identify the affected labyrinth and to show a recovery of vestibular functionality at 3 months, the two tests are not redundant, but complementary.

High-mobility group box protein 1 expression in inflammatory diseases of the middle ear.

High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a nuclear non-histone protein, playing a critical role as a mediator between innate and acquired immunity; when released extracellularly, it coordinates the cellular stress response (under necrosis, bacterial lipopolysaccharide stimulation) and acts as an inflammatory marker and cytokine. The aim of the study was to demonstrate whether HMGB1 is over-expressed in chronic middle-ear pathologies and whether the entity of expression and the localization are correlated with the degree of the inflammatory reaction, thus suggesting that HMGB1 may play a crucial role in chronic inflammatory disorders of the middle ear, as already demonstrated in other airway diseases. We analyzed 30 samples of middle-ear mucosa in patients affected by chronic suppurative otitis media with ear drum perforation with/without cholesteatoma and otosclerosis as control. The distribution of HMGB1 was evaluated as nuclear, cytoplasmic, and/or extracellular staining. The inflammatory cells observed in the biopsies were mostly lymphocytes and plasmacells. A statistically significant difference in inflammation score between otosclerosis and chronic otitis samples ( P < 0.01; Anova test) and between otosclerosis and cholesteatoma samples ( P < 0.05; Anova test) was observed; the HMGB1 positivity was in accordance with the density of the inflammatory infiltrate. HMGB1 is over-expressed in chronic middle-ear pathologies and may play a role in the progression of the inflammatory process from recurrent acute otitis media to chronic suppurative otitis media.