Sympathetic skin responses from postauricular region in Meniere's disease.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the sympathetic nervous system activity in Meniere's disease (MD) by recording sympathetic skin responses (SSRs) from the postauricular region (PA).

METHODS

Twenty-one patients with definite unilateral MD diagnosis and 12 healthy volunteers were studied by evoking right and left PA-SSRs with electrical stimulation of the left median nerve at the wrist in attack and interval periods of MD. Mean latencies and maximum amplitudes were used in statistical analyses.

RESULTS

In unilateral definite MD patients, the mean latencies were longer and the maximum amplitudes were smaller on the involved ear side than those on the normal ear side (p<0.01 for both amplitude and latency) and than those from the controls (p<0.01 and p<0.05). In three patients, there was no detectable PA-SSR on the involved ear side while there were SSRs on the healthy side. In four patients, the responses were absent bilaterally during the attack period.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a marked asymmetric sympathetic hypofunction in the area of the PA region of the involved ear in MD patients.

SIGNIFICANCE

The PA region is a new site for recording sympathetic skin responses. PA-SSR is a useful tool to investigate sympathetic nervous system function in MD patients.