The morphology of the swim bladder and inner ear of the nurseryfish, Kurtus gulliveri, appear adapted for enhanced pressure wave reception. The saccule is enlarged and surrounded by very thin bone and two large fontanelles that would present reduced resistance to pressure waves. The swim bladder is elaborate, with six dorsolaterally projecting pairs of lobes that are tightly encased in ribs and...

Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) is a short-latency myogenic response recorded from the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) in response to saccular stimulation. The currently understood VEMP was first described by Colebatch and Halmagyi and Colebatch et al. [1, . Since then, VEMPs have become a standard clinical test of otolith function [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, . At present, they are of...

OBJECTIVE To clarify the extent of the vestibular lesions in idiopathic sudden hearing loss with vertigo using vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) in response to click (click-VEMP) and galvanic (galvanic-VEMP) stimulation, as well as caloric tests. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING University hospital. PATIENTS We enrolled 22 patients with idiopathic sudden hearing loss with v...

OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS Although most studies have identified damage in the cochlea and semicircular canals as the primary sites of aminoglycoside toxicity, little attention has been devoted to the toxic effects on the otolithic organs. This study aimed to assess the toxic effect of gentamicin eardrops on the inner ear end organs via a novel inner ear monitoring system combined with morphological ...

Vestibular neuritis is the most common cause of acute spontaneous vertigo. Vestibular neuritis is ascribed to acute unilateral loss of vestibular function, probably due to reactivation of herpes simplex virus in the vestibular ganglia. The diagnostic hallmarks of vestibular neuritis are spontaneous horizontal-torsional nystagmus beating away from the lesion side, abnormal head impulse test for ...

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) are short-latency electromyograms evoked by high-level acoustic stimuli recorded from surface electrodes over the tonically contracted sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle. These responses are presumed to originate in the saccule. The purpose of this preliminary report is to provide an overview of our initial experience with the VEMP by describing the r...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the histopathologic changes of dark, transitional, and hair cells of the vestibular system in human temporal bones from patients with chronic otitis media. STUDY DESIGN Comparative human temporal bone study. SETTING Otopathology laboratory. SUBJECTS AND METHODS To compare the density of vestibular dark, transitional, and hair cells in temporal bones with and without ...

CONCLUSION Significant reduced visualization of the reuniting duct (ductus reuniens; RD), saccular duct (SD) and endolymphatic sinus (ES) in Meniere's disease (MD) compared with normal control ears on three-dimensional (3D) CT imaging suggests the blockage of endolymphatic flow there with radiodense substances, which may be explained by dislodged otoconia from the saccule. These structures coul...

A previously healthy 37-year-old man with an upper airway viral infection presented with a progressive onset of neck pain with odinophagia and pretracheal tenderness after repetitive sneezing efforts. Upon examination, cervical subcutaneous emphysema was the only finding. The chest radiograph confirmed the presence of pneumomediastinum. Cervical and chest CT scans performed during a Valsalva ma...

BACKGROUND A laryngocele is usually a cystic dilatation of the laryngeal saccule. The etiology behind its occurrence is still unclear, but congenital and acquired factors have been implicated in its development. CASE PRESENTATION We present a rare case of laryngocele occurring in a 77-year-old Caucasian woman. The patient presented with one month history of altered voice, no other associated ...