Department of Otolaryngology, Clinique Notre-Dame de Grâce, Charleroi, Belgium.
J Vestib Res. 2018;28(3-4):331-338. doi: 10.3233/VES-180642.
Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) has long been used as a vestibular stimulus. A major issue observed in GVS research was the high variability of the responses, which has led some researchers to question its diagnostic utility.
Determine the diagnostic accuracy of galvanically induced nystagmus for the diagnosis of subjects with unilateral peripheral vestibular hypofunction.
A total of 195 dizzy patients were prospectively enrolled, forming a consecutive series as they were received. Individuals with spontaneous nystagmus or using vestibular sedatives were excluded. Nystagmus induced by a 4 mA galvanic stimulus was compared with the caloric test as a reference standard.
Of the 195 subjects tested with GVS, 115 were subjects with a unilateral peripheral vestibular hypofunction. The presence of nystagmus showed an AUC of only 0.529 (0.478 to 0.580, p = 0.125), and the maximum slow phase velocity of nystagmus showed an AUC of only 0.523 (0.472 to 0.573, p = 0.439).
Since neither AUC is better than random discrimination, this study concludes that GVS-induced nystagmus is not useful as a diagnostic tool for unilateral peripheral vestibular hypofunction. These findings discourage the use of GVS-induced nystagmus in the clinical setting.
电前庭刺激（GVS）长期以来一直被用作前庭刺激。在 GVS 研究中观察到的一个主要问题是反应的高度可变性，这导致一些研究人员对其诊断效用产生了质疑。
确定电诱发眼球震颤对单侧周围性前庭功能减退患者的诊断准确性。
共前瞻性纳入 195 例头晕患者，作为连续系列纳入。排除有自发性眼球震颤或使用前庭镇静剂的患者。将 4 mA 电流刺激诱发的眼球震颤与热刺激试验作为参考标准进行比较。
在接受 GVS 测试的 195 例受试者中，有 115 例为单侧周围性前庭功能减退。眼球震颤的存在显示 AUC 仅为 0.529（0.478 至 0.580，p=0.125），眼球震颤的最大慢相速度显示 AUC 仅为 0.523（0.472 至 0.573，p=0.439）。
由于 AUC 均不优于随机鉴别，因此本研究得出结论，GVS 诱发的眼球震颤不能作为单侧周围性前庭功能减退的诊断工具。这些发现阻碍了 GVS 诱发的眼球震颤在临床中的应用。
