Acute Peripheral Vestibular Deficits after Whiplash Injuries

Abstract

We report 3 patients who had acute peripheral vestibular dysfunction minutes to hours after a car collision with whiplash injury without head trauma. The accident was a frontal collision in 1 case, a rear impact in the second, and lateral in the third. All patients complained immediately of cervicalgia, headache, acute vertigo with a sensation of erroneous body movements, and slipping of image with head movements. A sudden sensation of tilting of the environment when driving, tinnitus, and hyperacusis were also described. The otoneurologic findings showed bilateral canalolithiasis in 1 patient and an acute peripheral vestibular deficit in 2 patients. Tilt of the subjective visual vertical was measured in all patients. Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging yielded normal findings. As angular and linear accelerometers, the vestibular organs are directly exposed to high forces generated by whiplash mechanisms. Vertigo generated by peripheral vestibular lesions is probably underestimated in whiplash injuries and may often be incorrectly attributed to cervical or cerebral lesions.