Cerebellar infarctions and 'vestibular neuritis'.

Consecutive subjects 50 to 75 years of age with sudden onset of vertigo but without cochlear or neurological symptoms were investigated with neuro-imaging techniques. Doppler sonography of the vertebral and carotid arteries and recording of voluntary saccades and pursuit eye movements, caloric, spontaneous, gaze and optokinetic nystagmus. Among those studied, 6 out of 24 subjects could be demonstrated to have cerebellar infarctions, another 2 subjects had occlusion of one vertebral artery. Caloric tests could not identify subjects with a cerebellar infarction whereas prominently reduced pursuit eye movements could. Subjects with cerebellar infarction either had a vertebral artery occlusion or prominent cardio-embolic risk factors. It is suggested that subjects with symptoms as vestibular neuritis should be investigated with pursuit eye movements and with at least standard ECG recordings.