めまい患者におけるＳｃｈｅｌｌｏｎｇ ｔｅｓｔの再検討

Abstract

We analyzed the results of Schellong tests of 192 patients seen in our out-patient clinic for complaints of dizziness or vertigo.The dizzy patients of indeterminate etiology had a significantly higher incidence of positive Schellong tests than did healthy controls. In contrast, patients with peripheral vestibular disorder had only a slightly higher incidence of positive tests than did normal subjects.These results suggest the following: 1) a substantial number of patients with orthostatic dysregulation or hypotension may be included in the group of patients with diz-ziness of indeterminate etiology; 2) since peripheral vestibular dysfunction generally causes intermittent symptoms, patients with this disorder tend to be asymptomatic or to have an entirely normal physical examination during their visits to the clinic, and test results similar to those of normal healthy individuals; 3) the main drawback of the Schellong test in clinical practice is that a number of healthy subjects show positive results (the false-positive rate was estimated from our previous data to be about 30% in normal subjects). This relatively poor specificity may prevent the obtaining of clear-cut data from the test results.