[Peripheral vestibular vertigo (author's transl)].

In 88 patients with benign paroxysmal postural vertigo and repeated attacks of vestibular vertigo the clinical and electronystagmographic findings were evaluated in a retrospective study. After an interval of at least two years 16 patients with paroxysmal postural vertigo were symptom-free 39 had rare or (and) tolerable vertigo, 30 frequent and (or) disturbing recurrent postural vertigo. Five patients showed transition into spontaneous recurrent attacks of vertigo. Out of 37 patients with single vestibular vertigo after an interval of at least 4 weeks 9 had unilateral caloric unresponsiveness, 11 hyporesponsiveness, 11 spontaneous nystagmus and 6 normal findings. 58 patients with recurrent vestibular vertigo could be differentiated into two groups: 29 with signs of labyrinthine damage and 29 with persistent normal findings in the interval even after many years of the disease. The two groups were significantly different in their age of manifestation. It is thus justified to separate functional from organic vestibulopathies. Not even in the group of organic vestibulopathy was there any clear-cut evidence of general vascular disease as the underlying cause.