Comparison between efficacy of Epley’s maneuver with medical therapy versus medical therapy alone in treating BPPV patients

Abstract

Dizziness and disequilibrium are common complaints in both general adult and the geriatric population. Dizziness is often used to describe the sensations of vertigo, lightheadedness, imbalance, presyncope, disorientation, and/or gait instability. The cause may be otologic, neurologic, cardiovascular, psychiatric, orthopedic or ophthalmologic. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo(BPPV) is, by far, the most common cause of episodic vertigo. This study was done in a tertiary care center of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in patients above age of 20 and with BPPV. The purpose of the study was to compare the efficacy of Epley’s maneuver with medical therapy versus medical therapy alone in patients of BPPV.A total of 50 patients were divided into two groups: 25 to the group A which received Epley’s maneuver with drug therapy and 25 to the group B which received only drug therapy. In our study, Epley’s maneuver with medical therapy was found to be more effective than medicine given alone.This study shows that the Epley maneuver with medical therapy provides effective and long-term control of symptoms in patients with BPPV. It benefits over medical therapy alone in terms of avoiding the delay in vestibular compensation and recurrence.