Neuronitis Vestibularis

NYLEN¹ in 1924 described a case of sudden attacks of vertigo, spontaneous nystagmus, and unilateral lowering of the reaction to caloric stimulus without any signs of lesion in the acoustic nerve. In 1946 Arslan² gave the name of the "nucleoreticularis syndrome" to a similar complex of symptoms associated with marked vegetative disregulation. In 1949 Hallpike³ proposed that the syndrome of selective damage to the vestibular canal system of the inner ear should be termed "neuronitis vestibularis." Dix and Hallpike^4,5 found, in a clinical study, a high frequency (57%) of infection in the upper respiratory tracts in 100 similar cases. Observations of various large series of cases have subsequently been reported, including those of Pfalz,⁶ Aschan and Stahle,⁷ Haas and Becker,⁸ Kern,⁹ Podrebersek,¹⁰ Meyer-Leddin,¹¹ Lumio and Aho,¹² and Boffi.¹³ The morbitiy of neuronitis vestibularis is not of an epidemic