Acute Unilateral Vestibulopathy (AUV) represents a severe, continuous and long-lasting vertigo with sudden onset due to an acute damage involving either the vestibular nerve or the labyrinthine end-organs. Although most subjects recover spontaneously, several patients develop residual disorders, such as chronic dizziness, disequilibrium, spatial disorientation and limitations in daily activities.
Vestibular neuritis is traditionally believed to represent the most common cause of AUV, although the appropriateness of this term is debated as the supposed neural inflammation underlying symptoms and signs remains mostly unclear. Nevertheless, other intralabyrinthine disorders such as ischemia in the territories supplied by the terminal branches of the internal auditory artery, endolymphatic hydrops involving selective partitions of the inner ear and rare variants of vestibular lithiasis including canalith jam may present with the same symptoms and findings. Therefore, the differential diagnosis based on the sole clinical examination can be extremely challenging. Whereas the integrity of the horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex can be easily assessed at the bedside examination with the head impulse test, detecting vertical canals hypofunction and otolith organs impairment is usually challenging. The introduction of new and fast techniques for vestibular assessment as the video head impulse test and vestibular-evoked myogenic-potentials has offered a detailed mapping of all five vestibular sensors, enabling clinicians to localize most lesions along the vestibular pathways with extreme precision. The combination of data obtained with these tests with more traditional exams (such as caloric irrigations) and new and promising protocols (such as the ocular counter roll with torsional eye tracking) is expected to provide an even more detailed understanding of patients' vestibular disorders.
Thanks to the aforementioned advancements in vestibular measurements and to the new insights in inner ear pathology, several lesion patterns could be identified. Despite not being strictly disease-specific, they might provide helpful clues in the differential diagnosis and in the assumption of the underlying pathomechanisms and etiologies, thus guiding and modulating treatment modalities accordingly.
Thus, topic editors will welcome any types of manuscripts supported by the Journal – comprised of research article, brief research article, review, and mini-review – pertaining, but not limited to the following themes:
• acute and chronic vestibular deficits starting from the lesion pattern
• pathophysiological hypotheses
• protocols for bedside and instrumental examinations
• therapeutic and rehabilitative proposals.
Acute Unilateral Vestibulopathy (AUV) represents a severe, continuous and long-lasting vertigo with sudden onset due to an acute damage involving either the vestibular nerve or the labyrinthine end-organs. Although most subjects recover spontaneously, several patients develop residual disorders, such as chronic dizziness, disequilibrium, spatial disorientation and limitations in daily activities.
Vestibular neuritis is traditionally believed to represent the most common cause of AUV, although the appropriateness of this term is debated as the supposed neural inflammation underlying symptoms and signs remains mostly unclear. Nevertheless, other intralabyrinthine disorders such as ischemia in the territories supplied by the terminal branches of the internal auditory artery, endolymphatic hydrops involving selective partitions of the inner ear and rare variants of vestibular lithiasis including canalith jam may present with the same symptoms and findings. Therefore, the differential diagnosis based on the sole clinical examination can be extremely challenging. Whereas the integrity of the horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex can be easily assessed at the bedside examination with the head impulse test, detecting vertical canals hypofunction and otolith organs impairment is usually challenging. The introduction of new and fast techniques for vestibular assessment as the video head impulse test and vestibular-evoked myogenic-potentials has offered a detailed mapping of all five vestibular sensors, enabling clinicians to localize most lesions along the vestibular pathways with extreme precision. The combination of data obtained with these tests with more traditional exams (such as caloric irrigations) and new and promising protocols (such as the ocular counter roll with torsional eye tracking) is expected to provide an even more detailed understanding of patients' vestibular disorders.
Thanks to the aforementioned advancements in vestibular measurements and to the new insights in inner ear pathology, several lesion patterns could be identified. Despite not being strictly disease-specific, they might provide helpful clues in the differential diagnosis and in the assumption of the underlying pathomechanisms and etiologies, thus guiding and modulating treatment modalities accordingly.
Thus, topic editors will welcome any types of manuscripts supported by the Journal – comprised of research article, brief research article, review, and mini-review – pertaining, but not limited to the following themes:
• acute and chronic vestibular deficits starting from the lesion pattern
• pathophysiological hypotheses
• protocols for bedside and instrumental examinations
• therapeutic and rehabilitative proposals.
