Vertical eye movements during horizontal head impulse test: a new clinical sign of superior vestibular neuritis

In some patients suffering from acute unilateral peripheral vestibular deficit, the head impulse test performed towards the affected side reveals the typical catch-up saccade in the horizontal plane, and an oblique, mostly vertical, upward catch-up saccade after the rotation of the head towards the healthy side. Three cases are reported herein, which have been studied using slow motion video analysis of the eye movements captured by a high-speed webcam (90 fps). The clinical evidence is discussed and a pathophysiological explanation is proposed, consisting in a selective hypofunction of the superior semicircular canal during superior vestibular neuritis.