Roseli Saraiva Moreira Bittar

RaquelMezzalira

Alice Carolina Mataruco Ramos

Gabriel Henrique Risso

Danilo Martin Real

Signe Schuster Grasel

Highlights

Post caloric recruitment index is the ratio of the angular velocity of the slow phase obtained by cold and warm caloric stimulation of the same ear.    

The normal value was established in 17.06%.

Post caloric recruitment index is useful to identify the affected ear separately.

Recruitment suggests that central compensation is not complete yet in individuals with vestibular symptoms and peripheral lesion.

Abstract

Introduction

Vestibular recruitment is a sign of hyperexcitability of central vestibular neurons and may be characteristic of peripheral vestibular damage.

Objective

To define the post-caloric recruitment index and its ability to predict the stage of vestibular compensation and peripheral lesion.

Methods

First of all, we demonstrated that larger values in the cold post-caloric stimulation compared to warm stimulation were equivalent to vestibular recruitment observed during the sinusoidal harmonic acceleration test. In the next step, patients with vestibular complaints and asymptomatic controls were submitted to the caloric test. We calculated post-caloric recruitment index for the control group. Among the study group, we analyzed the relation between post-caloric recruitment and unilateral weakness as well as the types of vestibular diagnoses.

Results

Mean post-caloric recruitment was 17.06% and 33.37% among the control and study group, respectively. The ratio between post-caloric recruitment and unilateral weakness was 1.3 in the study group. Among recruiting subjects, no significant difference of unilateral weakness from the lesioned or healthy side was observed. We found no differences in vestibular diagnoses between recruiting and non-recruiting subjects.

Conclusion

Post-caloric recruitment index identified asymmetric vestibular tonus and central compensation. The normal value was established at 17.06%.   Veja o texto completo em: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1808869421000781?via%3Dihub