The limits of stability in patients with unilateral vestibulopathy

Abstract

Objective: To characterize the stability limits and region in patients with unilateral vestibulopathy according to the side of the lesion and determine if that imposes any bias. To analyze if the stability limits and region depend on the functional deficit as evaluated in the sensory organization test.

Methods: Forty patients with chronic dizziness and without any vertigo spell for least 6 months prior to testing. In all of them, a unilateral vestibulopathy was diagnosed clinically and at vestibular testing. A computerized dynamic posturography system was used to test for the ability of patients and controls to displace their center of pressure (COP) to the corresponding LOS. The area was calculated and compared to other data from vestibular tests.

Results: The area of stability among patients shows a reduction to 35–62% of the expected total. That reduction was not found to be dependent on age.

Conclusion: There is a symmetric reduction in the limits of stability (LOS) in patients with unilateral vestibulopathy who suffer chronic instability. None of the areas measured were correlated with the composite score of the sensory organization test and, as such, must be considered as an adjunct measure to characterize the postural limitations in those patients.

Chinese abstract

目的：根据病变侧来确定单侧前庭病患者的稳定性极限和面积的特征, 并确定这样做是否有任何偏差。分析稳定性极限和面积是否取决于如在感觉组织测试中所评估的功能缺陷。

方法：40例慢性眩晕症患者, 在术前至少6个月无眩晕。在所有这些患者中, 临床和前庭检查均诊断出单侧前庭病变。使用计算机化动态影像学系统来测试患者和对照组的能力, 将其压力中心（COP）置换为相应的LOS。计算稳定面积, 并与前庭测试中的其它数据进行比较。

结果：患者的稳定面积减少到预期总量的35-62%。没有发现这种减少与年龄相关。

结论：患有慢性不稳定的单侧前庭病人的稳定性极限（LOS）对称型地减少了。所测量的区域中没有一个与感觉组织测试的综合得分相关, 因此, 这必须作为确定这些患者的体姿限制特征的辅助措施。

Keywords:

• Vertigo
• disequilibrium
• posturography
• limits of stability

Acknowledgements

The material of this article was presented in the annual meeting of the Spanish ENT Society (SEORL) in 2015. It was awarded with the Juan Gassó prize and medal.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.