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Evaluation and management of the dizzy patient

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Linda M Luxon
Academic Unit of Audiological Medicine, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guildford Street, London WC1 1EH, UK; l.luxon@ich.ucl.ac.uk

Keywords: dizziness; vertigo

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Balance in man is a sophisticated and complex mechanism comprised of sensory inputs from the vestibular apparatus, vision, and proprioception. These pass into the central nervous system (CNS), are integrated and modulated by activity of the cerebellum, the extrapyramidal system, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex, and provide perception of head and body position in space, eye movement control, and appropriate static and dynamic postural function. Alterations in the sensory inputs, integrating mechanisms, or effector organs can result in the perception of dizziness or vertigo, disordered eye movements and disequilibrium, or instability. A wide variety of pathological processes may give rise to dizziness, such that patients present to many different specialists, but most commonly to the ear, nose, and throat (ENT) or neurology departments (table 1).