PURPOSE: to check the prevalence of typical and atypical benign positional paroxistic vertigo and relate clinical history and results of vestibular evaluation for both types. METHODS: all patients that showed nystagmus and/or vertigo in positional tests, between January 2007 and March 2008, were described through clinical history and vectoelectronystagmography, Vecwin model, Neurograff. The patients were arranged in two groups: those with nystagmus in the positional tests and those with just vertigo. RESULTS: from 399 patients evaluated at Centro Clínico Mãe de Deus, Porto Alegre, 86 (31.73%) referred clinical history of positional vertigo, 45 (49.45%) with typical form and 41 (45.05%) with atypical form, mean age 61 and 52 years, respectively. The female gender was prevalent for both groups, as well as the familiar history for the symptoms in 28 (30.76%) patients, both sides were affected, in both groups. 39.02% of the patients of typical form took 1 month to go to the clinic, 22.22% of the patients of the atypical form took more than 5 years. The spontaneous and per caloric nystagmus were found in both groups, with normorreflexy in 35 (40.6%), directional preponderance in 27 (31.03%), bilateral hiperreflexy in 9 (10.4%) and unilateral in 10 (11.6%) of the patients. Only 56 (65.11%) of the patients were submitted to audiological evaluation. CONCLUSION: the positional vertigo complaint was the same for both groups that agreed in several aspects. Time of the symptoms and associated pathologies were the aspects that patients of the typical and atypical forms differed.
Vertigo; Head Movements; Electronystagmography
