Effectiveness of epley's maneuver in the treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)‎

Abstract EN

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of Epley's Maneuver in the treatment of BPPV.

Design: Retrospective study.

Methods: Twenty four patients who were fulfilling the presentation and clinical diagnosis of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), were seen in ENT clinic between March 2001 and June 2004, all were managed by Epley’s Maneuver.

A questionnaire was designed, stressing the various applicable issues to vertigo among which were the nature and duration of vertigo, its relevant symptoms, accompanying complaints and associated chronic medical illness.

Additionally, we considered the effectiveness of Epley’s Maneuver as reflected by the recurrence of symptoms, future need for labyrinthine sedatives, and the improvement in the patient’s quality of life.

Results: Twenty-four patients were included in the study; males were 15 (62.5%), females 9 (37.5%).

Their age ranged between 20 and 60 years (mean age = 42.7 years).

All the patients were found to have normal ENT and CNS examination, except for a positive Dix- Hallpike test confirming the clinical suspicion of BPPV.

In Thirteen patients (54.1%), nausea and vomiting were found to be a common associated symptom, while five patients (20.8%) were found to have some other associated aural complaints.

While all the patients had head positional changes as a trigger for the vertigo episode, some postural element was found in 15 patients (62%).

Thirteen patients (58%) were found not to have any associated chronic medical illness, 5 (21%) were diabetics, 6 (25%) were hypertensive, one (4%) was suffering from hyperlipidemia, and one patient (4%) was known to have ischemic heart disease.

Positive history of head injuries was revealed in one patient (4%).

The patients scored the negative impact of vertigo on the quality of their life and their daily activity.

Pre-Epley’s, eleven patients (48%) gave a score of 10 (very badly affected), while post-Epley’s maneuver 21 patients (88%) scored 0 (no effect at all on their life).

Twenty-two patients (91.7%) revealed a significant improvement post-therapy.

Conclusion: In this study, we found that Epley's Maneuver is an effective and very efficient modality of treatment for BPPV.