Yeungnam Univ J Med.  2017 Jun;34(1):29-36. 10.12701/yujm.2017.34.1.29.

Clinical significance of saccade test, smooth pursuit test, and optokinetic nystagmus test in nystagmography

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. baich@med.yu.ac.kr
  • 2Regional Center for Respiratory Diseases, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Daegu, Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Saccade test, smooth pursuit test, and optokinetic nystagmus test are clinically useful tests to accurately diagnose vertigo. However, there have only been a few studies regarding a correlation between the anatomical site of the lesion and the abnormality of eyeball movement in patients with vertigo.
METHODS
The medical records of 97 patients with vertigo between January 2006 and June 2008 were reviewed retrospectively. We classified many kinds of abnormalities regarding the saccade test, smooth pursuit test and optokinetic nystagmus test into several categories and analyzed the localizing lesion of vertigo.
RESULTS
According to the saccade test, both total saccade abnormality (S-total) and slow velocity of saccade (S-type 3) were shown to be significantly higher in the central lesion of vertigo. According to the smooth pursuit test, symmetrical unidirectional smooth pursuit abnormality (SP-type 2) was observed to be significantly higher in the peripheral lesion over vertigo. Moreover, according to the optokinetic nystagmus test, total optokinetic nystagmus abnormalities (OKN-total) were shown to be significantly useful findings in the diagnosis of the central lesion of vertigo. The coexisting abnormalities of all three tests (S+SP+OKN abnormalities) were shown to be significantly higher in the central lesion of vertigo.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that all these tests, saccade test, smooth pursuit test, and optokinetic nystagmus test, are very useful to distinguish between the central lesion and the peripheral lesion of vertigo. However, these tests are not beneficial in localizing the central lesion of vertigo.

Keyword

Vertigo; Saccade test; Smooth pursuit test; Optokinetic nystagmus test

MeSH Terms

Diagnosis
Humans
Medical Records
Nystagmus, Optokinetic*
Pursuit, Smooth*
Retrospective Studies
Saccades*
Vertigo
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