Advances in peripheral vestibular diseases with downbeat nystagmus

Abstract

Downbeat nystagmus is not rare and usually considered as a central nervous system disease. However, there are a lot of diseases that present with downbeat nystagmus only or downbeat component in nystagmus, including peripheral and central vestibular diseases and Chiari malformations. This review will briefly summarize the vestibulo ocular reflexes and the mechanisms of the downbeat nystagmus with a peripheral origin, and then common vestibular disease such as the anterior semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo,posterior semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, posterior semicircular canal light cupula, Meniere's disease and inferior vestibular neuritis are reviewed.