Reliability of the vestibular evoked myogenic potential test in assessing intratympanic gentamicin therapy in Meniere's disease

Abstract

Conclusions. The results of this preliminary study demonstrate that with regard to determining the efficacy of intratympanic (IT) gentamicin treatment in patients with Meniere's disease, the reliability of testing for vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) is comparable to that of caloric tests. Compared with caloric tests, VEMP measurements are more comfortable and take less time. The results of VEMP and caloric testing do not correlate with the results of hearing tests. Objective. To test the reliability of VEMP testing to monitor the results of IT gentamicin therapy in patients with Meniere's disease. Subjects and methods. Twelve patients with unilateral Meniere's disease were evaluated with pure tone audiometry (PTA), bithermal caloric tests, and VEMP tests. Patients with measurable caloric and VEMP results before IT gentamicin treatment were included in the study. IT gentamicin (0.5 ml) at a concentration of 40 mg/ml was administered to the patients. Reinjection was performed 10 days later depending on patients’ complaints. Patients were re-evaluated with short- and long-term VEMP, hearing, and caloric test results. Results. Caloric responses and VEMPs changed following gentamicin therapy in 9 patients and 12 patients, respectively. Long-term results of caloric and VEMP tests in patients receiving IT gentamicin treatment changed in 7 patients and 10 patients, respectively.