An investigation of internal auditory canal and its content diameters in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo [Benign paroksismal pozisyonel vertigolu hastalarda internal akustik kanal ve içeriğinin çaplarının araştırılması]

Objective: this study's aim is to research the caliber of the internal auditory canal (iac) and its content sizes whether it is related with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (bppv) or not. method: cases that were evaluated at ear,nose and throat (ent) clinics with vertigo complaints and were clinically diagnosed as bppv with normal results during routine tests were studied. control group data was obtained from cases referred to the radiology department in order to perform brain magnetic resonance imaging (mri). the study group consisted of left ears of right-handed 49 control clients (30 females) and left ears of righthanded 132 bppv patients (88 females). images of ears at the posterior level and superior semicircular canal (ssc) confluence in iac were used for image analysis. internal auditory canal and its content nerve diameters were analyzed by computer. a statistical assessment was performed on noted high significance levels. result: no statistically significant difference was detected between nerve diameters of the control and bppv groups except the superior vestibular nerve (svn). in the bppv group,cross sectional areas (csa) of svns were found to be lower in statistical significance (p<0.001) than control group. conclusion: this trial suggests that vestibular nerve changes are observed more in bppv cases and should be assessed as a factor in bppv etiology or as a result of the disease. © 2015,ege university press. all rights reserved.