Our understanding of the pathomechanism of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) has improved dramatically. A type of BPPV featuring mixed torsional and vertical nystagmus induced by the Dix-Hallpike maneuver involves the posterior semicircular canal (P-BPPV). The other type of BPPV featuring horizontal nystagmus induced by spine-to-lateral head positioning involves the horizontal canal B...

In vertigo, people experience an illusion of movement of the environment about them, or of themselves with respect to the environment. Vertigo usually originates in the peripheral nervous system (e.g. due to a disorder of the inner ear) but can, rarely, have a CNS origin (e.g. an intracranial tumour or brainstem lesion). It is commonly due to a peripheral disorder known as 'benign paroxysmal po...

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common type of peripheral vertigo. BPPV often relapses after the first episode, with a recurrence rate between 15% and 50%. To date both the aetiopathogenetic processes that lead to otoconia detachment and the factors that make BPPV a relapsing disease are still unclear, but recent epidemiological studies have shown a possible association ...