Device could be used by non-specialists to diagnose patients with acute vertigo or dizziness
WEDNESDAY, March 6 (HealthDay News) -- A portable device that measures eye movements may help non-specialist physicians diagnose stroke in high-risk patients with acute vertigo or dizziness, according to a study published online March 5 in Stroke.
David E. Newman-Toker, M.D., Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues tested a portable video-oculography device that measures vestibular physiology in real time on 12 adults presenting to the emergency department with acute vestibular syndrome. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to confirm diagnoses.
The researchers found that six strokes and six peripheral vestibular cases were diagnosed with 100 percent accuracy using the video-oculography-based head impulse test, nystagmus, and test-of-skew examination.
"Device-based identification of vertebrobasilar stroke in acute vestibular syndrome could help fulfill a critical need for timely, accurate, and efficient diagnosis in patients presenting acute vertigo or dizziness with high-risk clinical features," Newman-Toker and colleagues conclude.
Abstract
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