골도 및 기도 자극에 의한 경부 전정유발 근전위의 비교

Backgrounds and Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of cervical vestibular- evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP) responses induced by bone-conduction (BC) stimulation and to compare the characteristics of parameters of cVEMP using BC and air-conduction (AC) sounds in normal volunteers. Materials and Methods: Thirty seven normal subjects (74 ears) with normal hearing and no previous history of dizziness were included. cVEMP responses were recorded by surface electrodes on sternocleidomastiod muscles in response to AC and BC stimuli sequentially. Variances of parameters, including latencies, amplitudes, inter-latencies difference and inter-aural amplitude asymmetry, were analyzed and compared. Results: Responses of cVEMP by AC sounds were clearly observed in all 74 ears whereas those by BC sounds were detected in 41 ears (55.4%). There was no significant difference in latencies and inter-latencies intervals. Inter-aural amplitude asymmetry ratios showed no significant difference between the two tests, although amplitudes in BC-cVEMP testing were significantly smaller than those in AC-cVEMP testing. Conclusions: BC-cVEMP requires cautions in clinical application as compared with AC-cVEMP. An effective bone vibrator or high-intensity stimulation is needed to produce more reliable responses of BC-cVEMP. (J Clinical Otolaryngol 2013;24:201–207)