Personal experiences with vestibular evoked myogenic potentials as a modern method of diagnosing vestibular organ lesion and monitoring treatment.

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) appear to represent a new and promising technique for the assessment of vestibulospinal reflex function. The primary aims of the study described in this article were (1) to record VEMPs in normal volunteers using available equipment and to establish a range of norms of VEMP parameter values (latency, amplitude); (2) to confirm the saccular origin of VEMPs; (3) to assess the diagnostic significance of VEMPs; and (4) to evaluate the usefulness of VEMPs in monitoring therapeutic results. The study population consisted of 252 patients representing various diagnoses of hearing loss and vestibular organ lesion. Twenty-three patients were treated with an antihomotoxic remedy, and some received placebo. The results of this study demonstrated that VEMPs are helpful in evaluating the physiological and pathological equilibrium system and in monitoring reflex reactions after treatment.