Is Alteration of Tuning Property in Cervical Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potential Specific for Ménière’s Disease?

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to show sensitivity and specificity of cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) tuning property test to Ménière’s disease (MD) in comparison with healthy controls (HC) and patients with other vestibular diseases. SUBJECTS: Totally 92 subjects (50 women and 42 men, 20–77 years of age) were enrolled in this study. Subjects were composed of 38 definite unilateral MD patients, 11 unilateral benign paroxysmal positional vertigo patients, 14 vestibular migraine patients, 19 unilateral vestibular neuritis patients, and 10 HC. METHODS: The subjects underwent cVEMP testing to 500 and 1,000 Hz short tone bursts (125 dBSPL). The corrected amplitudes of the first biphasic responses (p13–n23) (cVEMP) were measured. Then, a tuning property index (the 500–1,000 Hz cVEMP slope) was calculated. RESULTS: The area of under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.75 in comparison with other vestibular disease patients, while AUC was 0.77 in comparison with other vestibular disease patients plus HC. The best cutoff point of the 500–1,000 Hz cVEMP slope was −19.9. Sensitivity of the tuning property test to MD was 0.74, while specificity was 0.76 to other vestibular disease patients. CONCLUSION: The tuning property test of cVEMP is useful as a screening test of MD.