Pitfalls in detecting vestibular decruitment with air calorics.

Vestibular decruitment is a pathological finding which indicates retrolabyrinthine disease. In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is consistent with posterior fossa pathology. Weak and strong caloric stimulations must be applied with precision for detecting decruitment. Air-caloric stimulation has inherent limitation in regards to reproducing the strength of the stimulus. Thus, it is inadequate for decruitment detection. It is, therefore, advisable to use water-caloric testing to assess vestibular decruitment or recruitment as one of the most revealing diagnostic clues in our neurotologic armamentarium.