Does migraine-associated vertigo share a common pathophysiology with Meniere's disease? Study with vestibular-evoked myogenic potential

Cephalalgia

Volume 29 Issue 12, Pages 1259 - 1266

Published Online: 23 Apr 2009

© 2008 International Headache Society

T Murofushi ^1,2 , H Ozeki ¹ , A Inoue ¹ & A Sakata ¹

¹ Department of Otolaryngology, Tokyo Postal Services Agency Hospital, Tokyo, and ² Department of Otolaryngology, Teikyo University Mizonokuchi Hospital, Kawasaki, Japan

Correspondence to Professor Toshihisa Murofushi, Department of Otolaryngology, Teikyo University Mizonokuchi Hospital, 3-8-3 Mizonokuchi, Kawasaki 213-3507, Japan. Tel. + 81-44-844-3333, fax + 81-44-813-2257, e-mail murofush@med.teikyo-u.ac.jp

KEYWORDS

ABSTRACT

To clarify if migraine-associated vertigo (MAV) and Meniere's disease (MD) share a common pathophysiology, vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) were measured in 11 patients with MAV, 11 with unilateral MD and eight healthy subjects. As acoustic stimuli, tone bursts (TB; 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz) were presented. In healthy subjects, 500-Hz TB evoked the largest amplitude. To quantify this tendency, 500–1000 VEMP slope was calculated, and 500–1000 VEMP slope was the smallest on the affected side of MD patients. Among the 11 MD patients, five had significantly decreased 500–1000 VEMP asymmetry (shift of the tuning to 1000 Hz). Three of the 11 MAV patients also showed a significantly decreased 500–1000 VEMP slope. This finding suggests that MAV might share a common pathophysiology with MD. In addition to this finding, four of the other eight MAV patients showed prolonged p13 latencies. This suggests that MAV could consist of patients with different lesion sites.

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Received 5 November 2008, accepted 5 February 2009