Skip to main content
The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology
Download PDF

Vestibular-evoked myogenic potential: an easy neurophysiological tool for evaluating brain stem involvement in multiple sclerosis

The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology volume 34, pages 144–148 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) are an applicable neurophysiological technique that can be used for diagnosis of brain stem involvement in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Aim

The aim was to evaluate the relationship between VEMP parameters, clinical characteristics, and brain stem lesions in patients with MS.

Patients and Methods

The study was a case–control study done on 20 patients with MS and 10 normal controls. The disability level of the patients was assessed by the expanded disability status scale and brain stem functional system score (FSS). Location of demyelinating lesions was determined from brain and spinal cord MRI scans. VEMP was done for all patients and controls.

Results

Overall, 60% (n=12) of patients with MS were found to have absent VEMP latency (P13–N23) in both right and left side. Patients with preserved VEMP latency were found to have significantly delayed latency (P13–N23) in both right and left sides than controls. Comparison between patients with delayed VEMP latency and those with absent VEMP latency in disease characteristics revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between them in disease duration (P=0.001), expanded disability status scale score (P=0.01), and functional system score (P=0.04). The group of patients with vestibular symptoms or brain stem lesions was found to have significantly more absent VEMP latency than those without.

Conclusion

Patients with MS may have abnormal VEMP, especially those with long disease duration, vestibular symptoms, greater disability, and brain stem lesions.

References

  1. Compston A, Coles A. Multiple sclerosis. Lancet 2008; 372:1502–1517.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Koch M, Metz L, Agrawal S, Yong V. Environmental factors and their regulation of immunity in multiple sclerosis. J Neurol Sci 2013; 324:10–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. McDonald W, Compston A, Edan G, Goodkin D, Hartung HP, Lublin FD, et al. Recommended diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis: guidelines from the International Panel on the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Ann Neurol 2001; 50:121–127.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Habek M. Evaluation of brainstem involvement in multiple sclerosis. Expert Rev Neurother 2013; 13:299–311.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Zadro I, Barun B, Habek M, Brinar V. Isolated cranial nerve palsies in multiple sclerosis. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 2008; 110:886–888.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Alpini O, Pugnetti L, Caputo D, Cornelio F, Capobianco S, Cesarani A. Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in multiple sclerosis: clinical and imaging correlations. Mult Seier 2004; 10:316–321.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Sartucci F, Logi F. Vestibularevoked myogenic potentials: a method to assess vestibulo-spinal conduction in multiple sclerosis patients. Brain Res Bull 2002; 59:59–63.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Versino M, Colnaghi S, Callieco R, Bergamaschi R, Romani A, Cosi V. Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in multiple sclerosis patients. Clin Neurophysiol 2002; 113:1464–1469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Shimizu K, Murofushi T, Sakurai M, Halmagyu M. Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in multiple sclerosis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2000; 69:276–277.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Rosengren S, Welgampola M, Colebatch J. Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials: past, present and future. Clin Neurophysiol 2010; 121: 636–651.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Patkó T, Simó M, Arányi Z. Vestibular click-evoked myogenic potentials: sensitivity and factors determining abnormality in patients with multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler 2007; 13:193–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Eleftheriadou A, Deftereos SN, Zarikas V, Panagopoulos G, Sfetsos S, Karageorgiou CL, et al. The diagnostic value of earlier and later components of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) in multiple sclerosis. J Vestib Res 2009; 19:59–66.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Gazioglu S, Boz C. Ocular and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in multiple sclerosis patients. Clin Neurophysiol 2012; 123: 1872–1879.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Murofushi T, Shimizu K, Takegoshi H, Cheng PW. Diagnostic value of prolonged latencies in the vestibular evoked myogenic potential. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2001; 127:1069–1072.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Bandini F, Beronio A, Ghiglione E, Solaro C, Parodi RC, Mazzella L. The diagnostic value of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in multiple sclerosis. J Neurol 2004; 251: 617–621.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Audiology Unit, Ear, Nose, Throat Department, Faculty of Medicine, Bani Suef University, Yousef el Sabaee Street, 1st Settlement, New Cairo, Egypt

    Rabab Koura MD (Lecturer of Audiovestibular Medicine)

  2. Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Bani-Suef University, Bani-Suef, Egypt

    Mona Hussein

Authors
  1. Rabab Koura MD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mona Hussein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rabab Koura MD.

Additional information

This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Rights and permissions

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Koura, R., Hussein, M. Vestibular-evoked myogenic potential: an easy neurophysiological tool for evaluating brain stem involvement in multiple sclerosis. Egypt J Otolaryngol 34, 144–148 (2018). https://doi.org/10.4103/ejo.ejo_73_17

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ejo.ejo_73_17

Keywords