Vertigo

Vertigo reflects dysfunction in the vestibular system. Any disease state which changes the firing frequency of a vestibular end-organ and which produces unequal neural input to the brainstem causes vertigo. Caloric stimulation mimics acute end-organ dysfunction and helps establish the diagnosis. Vertigo is an illusory sense of unidirectional environment and/ or bodily rotational movement. The symptom reflects dysfunction in the vestibular system and is thus quite specific. If the definition of vertigo is expanded to include "the symptoms experienced during vestibular dysfunction," however, confusion results because many patients with vestibulopathy describe a variety of symptoms such as dizziness, light headedness, staggering, etc., instead of unidirectional rotational movement. The physician must determine whether these symptoms actually represent a vestibular problem or one of the many other conditions associated with "dizziness.