D-L Glossary of Vestibular Disorders

Differentiation between cervical and vestibular vertigo/dizziness is controversial and unlike other vertigo syndromes. It may be associated with head or whiplash injury. There is no reliable clinical test available for cervical vertigo/dizziness. Reliable and well-established signs and tests can establish a diagnosis in most patients with vertigo, which is a hallucination or illusion of movement. Vertigo is a symptom of a vestibular disorder and not a disease.

Episodic ataxia is genetic and a type of migraine.

Falls may be due to peripheral vestibular (inner ear) disorders. For example, Benign Paroxysmal Positioning Vertigo (BPPV), Meniere’s disease/syndrome, Ramsay Hunt Syndrome and Acoustic neuroma.

Fear of falling is due to a phobia of falling and is not related to having had a fall. Falls may be related to vestibular disability and non-vestibular disorders.

Gentamicin is a controlled chemical treatment used to destroy the labyrinth (inner ear). For example, intractable vertiginous episodes due to Meniere’s disease.

Labyrinthine ischeamia (vestibular and/or auditory) is due to a cessation of blood flow (stroke) to the labyrinth (inner ear).