Importance of Video Head Impulse Test Parameters for Recovery of Symptoms in Acute Vestibular Neuritis

Objective: To examine the importance of video head impulse test parameter for recovery of symptoms in acute vestibular neuritis (AVN). Study Design: Prospective study. Setting: Tertiary referral hospital. Patients/Interventions: Twenty-seven patients with AVN were enrolled. We divided patients into two groups according to both dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) score and visual analog scale (VAS) at 6 months: Group F (symptoms free), DHI = 0 and VAS = 0; Group R (symptoms residual), DHI more than zero or VAS more than zero. Main Outcome Measure: All patients underwent video head impulse test paradigm (HIMP), and suppression head impulse test paradigm (SHIMP) initially and at 1 month. Patients were also asked to complete DHI and VAS initially, at 1 month and 6 months. We compared measured parameters between Group F and R. Results: In HIMP, Group F showed higher vestibular-ocular reflex (VOR) gain, higher occurrence of covert corrective saccade (CS), lower occurrence and peak velocity of overt CS, and lower PR score than Group R at 1 month. In SHIMP, Group F showed higher VOR gain, higher occurrence and peak velocity of anti-CS, and higher PR score than Group R at 1 month. Conclusions: Above parameters of both HIMP and SHIMP at 1 month would be important factors to predict the residual symptoms in chronic phase of AVN.