Dataset Information

Bruns' nystagmus revisited: A sign of stroke in patients with the acute vestibular syndrome.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Gaze-evoked nystagmus (GEN) is a central sign in patients with the acute vestibular syndrome (AVS); however, discriminating between a pathological and a physiologic GEN is a challenge. Here we evaluate GEN in patients with AVS.

Methods

In this prospective cross-sectional study, we used video-oculography (VOG) to compare GEN in the light (target at 15° eccentric) in 64 healthy subjects with 47 patients seen in the emergency department (ED) who had AVS; 35 with vestibular neuritis and 12 with stroke. All patients with an initial non-diagnostic MRI received a confirmatory, delayed MRI as a reference standard in detecting stroke.

Results

Healthy subjects with GEN had a time constant of centripetal drift >18 s. VOG identified pathologic GEN (time constant ≤ 18 s) in 33% of patients with vestibular strokes, specificity was 100%, accuracy was 83%. Results were equivalent to examination by a clinical expert. As expected, since all patients with GEN had a SN in straight-ahead position, they showed the pattern of a Bruns' nystagmus.

Conclusions

One third of patients with AVS due to central vestibular strokes had a spontaneous SN in straight-ahead gaze and a pathological GEN, producing the pattern of a Bruns' nystagmus with a shift of the null position. The localization of the side of the lesion based on the null was not consistent, presumably because the circuits underlying gaze-holding are widespread in the brainstem and cerebellum. Nevertheless, automated quantification of GEN with VOG was specific, and accurately identified patients in the ED with AVS due to strokes.

SUBMITTER: Mantokoudis G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8456911 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:ObjectivesFor the assessment of patients presenting with acute prolonged vertigo meeting diagnostic criteria for acute vestibular syndrome (AVS), bedside oculomotor examinations are essential to distinguish peripheral from central causes. Here we assessed patterns of spontaneous nystagmus (SN) observed in AVS and its diagnostic accuracy at the bedside.MethodsMEDLINE and Embase were searched for studies (1980-2022) reporting on the bedside diagnostic accuracy of SN-patterns in AVS patients. Two independent reviewers determined inclusion. We identified 4,186 unique citations, examined 219 full manuscripts, and analyzed 39 studies. Studies were rated on risk of bias (QUADAS-2). Diagnostic data were extracted and SN beating-direction patterns were correlated with lesion locations and lateralization.ResultsIncluded studies reported on 1,599 patients, with ischemic strokes (n = 747) and acute unilateral vestibulopathy (n = 743) being most frequent. While a horizontal or horizontal-torsional SN was significantly more often found in peripheral AVS (pAVS) than in central AVS (cAVS) patients (672/709 [94.8%] vs. 294/677 [43.4%], p < 0.001), torsional and/or vertical SN-patterns were more prevalent in cAVS than in pAVS (15.1 vs. 2.6%, p < 0.001). For an (isolated) vertical/vertical-torsional SN or an isolated torsional SN specificity (97.7% [95% CI = 95.1-100.0%]) for a central origin etiology was high, whereas sensitivity (19.1% [10.5-27.7%]) was low. Absence of any horizontal SN was more frequently observed in cAVS than in pAVS (55.2 vs. 7.0%, p < 0.001). Ipsilesional and contralesional beating directions of horizontal SN in cAVS were found at similar frequency (28.0 vs. 21.7%, p = 0.052), whereas for pAVS a contralesional SN was significantly more frequent (95.2 vs. 2.5%, p < 0.001). For PICA strokes presenting with horizontal SN, beating direction was ipsilesional more often than contralesional (23.9 vs. 6.4%, p = 0.006), while the opposite was observed for AICA strokes (2.2 vs. 63.0%, p < 0.001).Conclusions(Isolated) vertical and/or torsional SN is found in a minority (15.1%) of cAVS patients only. When present, it is highly predictive for a central cause. A combined torsional-downbeating SN-pattern may be observed in pAVS also in cases with isolated lesions of the inferior branch of the vestibular nerve. Furthermore, in cAVS patients the SN beating direction itself does not allow a prediction on the lesion side.