Centric and Eccentric VOR Tests in Patients with Meniere's disease

Abstract

Pendular rotation in the eccentric position produces the same angular stimulation as conventional pendular rotation (i. e., centric rotation) ; moreover, it involves linear centrifugal and tangential acceleration forces which act on the otolith organs. In the eccentric position, normal subjects showed a greater gain of slow phase eye movements at 0.64 Hz, than when the head was in the centric position. We conclude that it is possible to diagnose otolith dysfunction by these comparison. In this study, we applied centric and eccentric pendular rotation tests to eleven patients with Meniere's disease and seven patients with vestibular Meniere's disease to investigate their otolith function. With in one month after their first attack or after a recent attack, no gain enhancement with eccentric rotation was noted in either group. Others showed normal gain enhancement in the eccentric rotation test. We conclude that there is no difference in otolith function in patients with Meniere's disease and those with vestibular Meniere's disease.