Atypical variants of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) are often encountered and frequently confusing. The authors present a hypothetical framework that accounts for all classical patterns of BPPV and several unusual variants such as BPPV without nystagmus, BPPV with downbeat nystagmus and BPPV with paradoxically direction-changing nystagmus. The authors introduce new concepts, such a...

This article summarizes the emergency department approach to diagnosing cerebellar infarction in the patient presenting with vertigo. Vertigo is defined and identification of a vertigo syndrome is discussed. The differentiation of common vertigo syndromes such as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, Meniere's disease, migrainous vertigo, and vestibular neuritis is summarized. Confirmation of a...

The Nobel Prize winner Robert Bárány described benign positional vertigo and related it to the otoliths in 1921. Dix and Hallpike further elucidated this clinically distinctive, common disorder in 1952. The displacement of otoliths from the utricle or saccule into one of the semicircular canals later proved to be the underlying mechanism, described by Schuknecht and utilised therapeutically by ...