This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on Web of Science (1)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Neurology  • Neuro-otology  • Balance Disorders  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Herminio Perez-Garrigues, MD, PhD; Jose A. Lopez-Escamez, MD, PhD; Paz Perez, MD, PhD; Ricardo Sanz, MD, PhD; Miguel Orts, MD, PhD; Jaime Marco, MD, PhD; Rafael Barona, MD, PhD; Mari C. Tapia, MD, PhD; Ismael Aran, MD; Carlos Cenjor, MD, PhD; Nicolas Perez, MD, PhD; Constantino Morera, MD, PhD; Rafael Ramirez, MD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2008;134(11):1149-1154.

Objective  To evaluate the frequency and duration of episodes of definitive vertigo in Ménière’s disease.

Design  Prospective longitudinal study.

Setting  Multiple tertiary referral centers.

Patients  Five hundred ten individuals from 8 hospitals that met the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery diagnostic criteria for definitive Ménière’s disease.

Intervention  Conservative treatment.

Main Outcome Measure  Frequency and duration of episodes of definitive vertigo during follow-up.

Results  Ménière’s disease affects both sexes and both ears equally, with onset generally in the fourth decade of life. The number of episodes of vertigo is greater in the first few years of the disease. Although episodes of vertigo that last longer than 6 hours are less frequent than shorter episodes, they occur with similar frequency throughout the natural course of the disease. The percentage of patients without episodes of vertigo increases as the disease progresses, and 70% of patients who did not have an episode of vertigo for 1 year will continue to be free of episodes during the following year. Thus, there is a relationship between the frequency of episodes in consecutive years, although this association decreases rapidly as the number of years increases.

Conclusion  The frequency of definitive episodes of vertigo in Ménière’s disease decreased during follow-up, and many individuals reached a steady-state phase free of vertigo.

Author Affiliations: Divisions of Otoneurology, Departments of Otorhinolaryngology, Hospital Universitario La Fe (Drs Perez-Garrigues, Morera, and Ramirez), Hospital Clinico Universitario (Drs Orts and Marco), and Hospital Casa de la Salud (Dr Barona), Valencia; Hospital de Cabueñes, Asturias (Dr P. Perez); Hospital Universitario de Getafe (Dr Sanz), Instituto ORL Antoli Candela (Dr Tapia), and Fundacion Jimenez Diaz (Dr Cenjor), Madrid; Complejo Hospitalario de Pontevedra, Pontevedra (Dr Aran); Hospital Universitario de Navarra, Pamplona (Dr N. Perez); and Otology and Neurotology Group, Hospital de Poniente, Almeria (Dr Lopez-Escamez); Spain.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?