Investigation of the Relationship Between the Dynamic Properties of the Vertebrobasilar Artery and Vestibular Symptoms

Objective: There is a large patient population presenting to the clinic with complaints of dizziness and imbalance that cannot be explained by a specific vestibular pathology (nonspecific vestibular symptoms) in routine vestibular evaluations. In the current study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between nonspecific vestibular symptoms and dynamic properties of the vertebral artery. Methods: In this cross-sectional study involving 38 patients with nonspecific vestibular complaints and 39 healthy controls, all participants were assessed with the otoscopic examination, pure-tone audiometry, tympanometry, otoacoustic emission, vertebral artery color Doppler ultrasonography, bedside vestibular examination, videonystagmography, video head impulse tests, and functional head impulse tests. Results: The percentage of comorbidity, presence of positional nystagmus and average air conduction hearing thresholds differed significantly between participants with vestibular complaints and healthy controls. The vertebral artery flow and velocity values were obtained lower in the group with vestibular complaints compared to the control group. The presence of spontaneous nystagmus and the total vertebral artery flow rate independent variable significantly predicted the presence of the vestibular complaint dependent variable ([beta] = -1.643, df = 1, P = .014, [R.sup.2] = 0.792; [beta] = -0.026, df = 1, P = .014, [R.sup.2] = 0.714) Conclusion: Findings from this study indicate that close monitoring of the flow rate of the vertebral artery despite normal vertebral artery color Doppler ultrasonography findings in patients with nonspecific vestibular complaints may be important for the early detection of a possible vestibular pathology. Keywords: Color Doppler ultrasonography, vertebral artery, vertigo, vestibular function tests