Economic management of vertigo/dizziness disease in a county hospital: video-head-impulse test vs. caloric irrigation

The video-head-impulse test (vHIT) is an important test for examining unilateral vestibular hypofunction. Alternatively, one can test for vestibular hypofunction with the caloric irrigation test. Various studies have shown that both tests may not always identify vestibular hypofunction; instead, the results of the tests might be contradictory. This retrospective study reproduces those finding in a much larger group of patients at a county hospital. 1063 patients were examined with the vHIT and bithermal caloric irrigation on the same day and analyzed with respect to side differences. Of those patients 13.3 % had pathological vHIT and a caloric irrigation test, 4.6 % a pathological vHIT only and 24.1 % a pathologic caloric test only. As both tests might be necessary, we calculated the optimal sequence of the two examinations based on savings in time for the different disease groups. Especially in vestibular failure using the vHIT first and only applying the caloric irrigation in case of an unremarkable vHIT saves time and optimizes the diagnostic work up. In contrast, in Menière’s disease and vestibular migraine testing caloric irrigation first might be more efficient.