Cervical Vertigo PDF
Cervical Vertigo PDF
Cervical Vertigo PDF
NOSOLOGICAL ENTITIES?
Cervical vertigo
T Brandt, A M Bronstein
Neurologische Klinik,
Klinik Groshadern,
Ludwig Maximilians
Universitat, Munchen,
Germany
T Brandt
Division of
Neuroscience and
Psychological
Medicine, Imperial
College School of
Medicine, Charing
Cross Hospital,
Fulham Palace Road,
London W6 8RF, UK
A M Bronstein
Correspondence to:
Dr AM Bronstein
[email protected]
Received 2 October 2000
Accepted 29 November 2000
Table 1 DiVerential diagnosis of cervical vertigo: vertigo, unsteadiness, or oscillopsia triggered/aggravated by head-neck
movements
Disorder
Assumed mechanism
Labyrinthine:
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
Post-traumatic otolith vertigo
Perilymph fistula
Vestibular nerve:
Unilateral vestibular failure (eg, vestibular neuritis)
Bilateral vestibular failure
Vestibular paroxysmia
Nerve compression by cerebellopontine angle mass
Ocular motor:
Extraocular eye muscle or gaze paresis
Central vestibular:
Central positional nystagmus/vertigo
Migraine without aura
Migraine with aura (basilar migraine, vestibular migraine)
Vestibulocerebellar ataxia
Vascular:
Rotational vertebral artery occlusion
Carotid sinus syndrome
Intoxication:
Positional alcohol nystagmus/vertigo
Drugs (eg, antiepileptics)
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Canalolithiasis, cupulolithiasis
Dislodged otoconia, causing unequal heavy load on macula
Floating labyrinth
Cross coupling eVects with acute vestibular tone imbalance
Defective vestibulo-ocular reflex
Neurovascular cross compression
Conduction block or ectopic discharges
Inappropriate vestibulo-ocular reflex
Cerebellar disinhibition
Motion sickness due to sensory hyperexcitability
Spreading depression involving vestibular structures
Vestibulocerebellar dysfunction
Ischaemic depolarisation
Global cerebral ischaemia
Cerebellar and specific gravity diVerential between cupula
and endolymph (buoyancy mechanism)
Cerebellar and ocular motor
Cervical vertigo
are readily recognised and explained by a deficient sense of position of the lower limb joint.5
Dizziness and unsteadiness suspected to be of
cervical origin could be due either to loss or
inadequate stimulation of neck receptors in
cervical pain syndromes. Thus far this has
never been shown.
Functional relevance of neck aVerents
Proprioception is mostly dependent on the
deep short intervertebral neck muscles, which
are extensively supplied with muscle spindles.6 7 The neck input participates in perceptual functions and reflex responsesnamely,
cervicopostural and cervico-ocular reflexes.
PERCEPTUAL FUNCTIONS
Two reflexes are mediated by neck proprioceptors: the postural neck reflexes and the cervico-
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Cervical vertigo
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57 Hubbard DR, BerkoV GM. Myofascial trigger points shown
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64 Shumway-Cook A, Horak FB, Yardley L, et al. Rehabilitation of balance disorders in patients with vestibular
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65 Caplan LR. Posterior circulation disease: clinical findings, diagnosis, and management. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996.
66 Strupp M, Planck JH, Arbusow V, et al. Rotational vertebral
artery occlusion syndrome with vertigo due to labyrinthine
excitation. Neurology 2000;54:13769.
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