[Thoracoscopic surgery in surgical cases of circulatory diseases].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Okami.
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Between 1972 and 1993 equilibrium and audiological examinations were made on 73 patients who had been diagnosed to suffer from vestibular neuronitis. In 23 of these patients, central nervous disorders (CND) were suspected from the result of tests of positional and positioning nystagmus, smooth pursuit, optokinetic nystagmus or auditory brainstem response. In this group of patients the frequency of associated disorders and vertiginous symptoms (dizziness) was statistically higher than in the remainder 50 patients who did not have CND. In the CND group the time interval between the onset and improvement or disappearance of all vertiginous symptoms, nystagmus and canal paresis was longer than in the non-CND group.
Seventeen cases of vestibular neuronitis in children, including 11 cases from the questionnaires of an epidemiological survey in Japan and 6 patients in our clinic, were examined. Sex and age distribution was 11 males and 6 females, ranging in age from 3 to 15 years. Bilateral and recurrent cases were not encountered. Fifty-three percent of children had had a preceding episode of an upper respiratory tract infection and this ratio was higher than that in adults. The etiology of vestibular neuronitis is probably many-faceted, but it is thought that upper respiratory tract infections play an important role especially in children. Vertiginous symptoms had almost subsided among children at the last visit. However, among adults, 24% of patients felt persisting unsteadiness. The disappearance of positional and positioning nystagmus was observed in 71% of children at the last visit. Caloric CP failed to recover in only 14% of all cases who were re-examined. As shown in this study, the prognosis in children is better than in adults for nystagmus and caloric response. The results of this study thus indicate that not only central compensation but also recovery of the peripheral vestibular function is more effective for bringing recovery from the vestibular disorder in children than in adults.