Abstract
Objectives:
Although head trauma is considered a common cause of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), only a few studies have investigated posttraumatic BPPV (PT-BPPV). The aim of this study was to assess the clinical characteristics of PT-BPPV.
Methods:
We reviewed the clinical records of 19 patients with PT-BPPV during the years 2001 to 2012. Patients with an onset of positional vertigo within 3 days of well-documented head trauma were included in the PT-BPPV group. Their outcome was compared with that of 54 patients with idiopathic BPPV (i-BPPV) who were treated during the first half of 2011. We investigated the clinical characteristics of PT-BPPV and the clinical differences between the PT-BPPV and i-BPPV groups.
Results:
Members of the PT-BPPV group required more treatment sessions than did the members of the i-BPPV group (P < 0.05). The mean number of treatment sessions in the PT-BPPV and i-BPPV groups was 3.74 ± 3.07 and 2.22 ± 1.24, respectively. The recurrence rate in the PT-BPPV group (42.1%) was significantly higher than that in the i-BPPV group (18.5%; P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that, compared to i-BPPV, PT-BPPV requires more treatment sessions to achieve remission and has a greater tendency to recur. We suggest the use of frequent treatment sessions and canalith repositioning maneuver for patients with PT-BPPV.
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