Reflexogenic Vertigo Treated by Tensor Tympani Transection

Abstract

Two patients complained of severe vertigo following eructation or hiccup. One patient was poststapedectomy; the other had idiopathic cochlear degeneration. The symptoms were reproduced by Hennebert's test in the pathologic ear. The tensor tympani was transected in both patients. An endolymphatic sac procedure was performed concomitantly in the second patient. Both patients had immediate relief of symptoms. It is hypothesized that these reflex phenomena, which elicited vertigo, were accompanied by tensor tympani contraction, which resulted in medial movement of the stapes or prothesis, and that this movement was transmitted via adhesions to vestibular endorgans to produce the described symptoms.