Randomized Controlled Trials for Treatment of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

In nationwide 10 Dizziness Clinics of Korea, consecutive patients with each type of BPPV are randomized to each repositioning maneuver.

For posterior canal type of BPPV (PC-BPPV), patinets are randomized into modified Epley maneuver and Semont maneuver.

Subjects Consecutive patients with a diagnosis of PC-BPPV are recruited from nationwide 10 Dizziness Clinics in Korea. The inclusion criteria for this study were (1) a history of positional vertigo, (2) direction-changing positional nystagmus appropriate for each type of BPPV, and (3) absence of identifiable central nervous system disorders that could explain the positional vertigo and nystagmus. To exclude the patients with nystagmus from central pathologies, all patients also will receive neurotological examinations including spontaneous and gaze-evoked (GEN) nystagmus, horizontal and vertical smooth pursuit and saccades, limb ataxia, and balance function in addition to routine neurological examinations. Even in patients with isolated vertigo, those with central ocular motor signs, limb ataxia, and severe imbalance will be arranged for MRIs.

Diagnostic procedure To induce positional nystagmus, the patients lied supine from sitting (lying-down nystagmus) and turned their heads to either side while in supine (head-turning nystagmus). Then the patients were moved from a supine to sitting position and the head was bent down (head-bending nystagmus). Patients were also subjected to right and left Hallpike maneuvers and straight head hanging test to exclude BPPV involving the posterior or anterior canal.

Study design and Randomization The investigators attempt to determine the immediate therapeutic efficacies of Epley maneuver and Semont maneuver for PC-BPPV, repeated barbecue rotation maneuver and Gufoni maneuver after barbecue rotatio maneuver for geotropic HC-BPPV, and repeated Gufoni maneuver and head-shaking maneuvers after Gufoni maneuver in apogeotropic HC-BPPV by adopting a prospective randomized controlled study design.