Superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome as assessed by oVEMP and temporal bone computed tomography imaging

Abstract

To evaluate the role of oVEMP and multidetector CT scan in patients with superior canal dehiscence syndrome. Prospective study was conducted on nine patients with superior canal dehiscence syndrome (5 females, 4 males) age ranged 19-49 with mean age of 32.7 ± 9.3 years, complaining of intolerance to loud sounds and/or oscillopsia. The mean duration of illness was 18.7 ± 6.9 months, nine normal individuals as control (age and gender matched) were also included in the study. All of them underwent oVEMP and MDCT scan. Patients were of bilateral normal hearing sensitivity with no conductive impairment. All of the studied subjects (patients and controls) had identifiable contralateral oVEMP responses. MDCT scan showed dehiscence in all the patients. The dehiscence was unilateral (n = 7) and bilateral [n = 2 the other ear had a defect of 2 mm and thus was excluded from the study for fear or false diagnosis of Superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS)]. Unlike the normal subject (nI = 0.94 µV ± 0.03 and pI = -0.42 µV ± 0.09), with stimulation of the affected side in SCDS, there were augmented amplitude responses (nI = 2.64 µV ± 0.35 and pI = -3.10 µV ± 0.44) in the eye contralateral to the stimulus "contralateral to the lesion". Mean oVEMP threshold for SCDS ears were 82.5 ± 7.55 dBnHL compared to 100 ± 5.77 dBnHL of the control ears. We concluded that combination of physiological and anatomical information from oVEMP and MDCT increased accuracy for diagnosis of dehiscence of superior semicircular canal.