Stapedotomy and post-operative benign paroxysmal positional vertigo

In our experience some patients subjected to stapedotomy presented vestibular symptoms characterized by brief episodes of vertigo that only lasted 10 to 20 seconds, accompanied by rapid paroxysmal nystagmus similar to that found in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). For this study, 141 otosclerotic patients were enroled and underwent stapedotomy following the Fisch and Dillier's technique. Twelve out (8.5%) of all the patients under study complained of post-operative vertigo and the physical examination of the positional nystagmus confirmed the presence of paroxymal positional vertigo. The percentage seems particularly high and does not agree with the data reported in literature. The onset of the vestibular symptoms appeared between the 5th and 21st day after surgery. To our knowledge, this is the first prospective study existing in literature on the incidence of BPPV after surgery of the stapes. It must also be stressed that the patient should be informed beforehand during the consultation phase of the possibility of post-stapedotomy BPPV together with the other causes of post-operative vertigo. © 2005 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.