Clinical and experimental studies on pendular rotation test before and after furosemide administration (author's transl)

Abstract

For the purpose of detecting endolymphatic hydrops, the author developed test for pendular rotation (the furosemide test) and clinically applied the test on patients with Meniere's disease and patients with other peripheral or central vertiginous disorders. It was also experimentally studied on guinea pigs with endolymphatic hydrops induced by surgical obliteration of unilateral endolymphatic sac and on normal ones. In the present report, the author concluded that this test would be a useful method for diagnosis of endolymphatic hydrops.1. Twenty seven out of 60 patients with Meniere's disease (45%) were positive on the furosemide test. Of the above 60, 39 were tested in the attack stage and 25 (64%) were positive, but among the 21 patients tested in their remission stages, only 2 (10%) were positive.2. The patients with Meniere's disease who had been positive on the furosemide test before the endolymphatic shunt operation all had uneventful post-operative courses without any further attacks.3. None of the 25 patients who had vertigo with other causes than Meniere's disease were positive on the furosemide test whether they were in peripheral or central disorders.4. The guinea pigs with experimental endolymphatic hydrops induced by surgical obliteration of unilateral endolymphatic sac showed positive results in the furosemide test in a similar way as Meniere's disease patients.5. The histological view of the inner ears of the guinea pigs with positive furosemide test revealed either normalizing or collapsing of the endolymphatic hydrops once produced in the affected ear, while the opposite ear was almost normal.6. In the control group of normal guinea pigs, the positive furosemide test was not found, and histologically the bilateral inner ears of them had almost normal endolymphatic space.