Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) predominantly affects the right labyrinth
- 1Ear, Nose and Throat Department, AZ St Jan, B-8000 Brugge, Belgium
- 2Department of Neurology, AZ St Jan, B-8000 Brugge, Belgium
- Correspondence to: Dr I Dehaene Department of Neurology, AZ St Jan, Ruddershove 10, B-8000 Brugge, Belgium; ides.dehaeneazbrugge.be
We read with great interest the article “Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo predominantly affects the right labyrinth”, by M von Brevern et al,1 which prompted us to review our data of the last 10 years (1995–2004).
A total of 661 patients, referred to the ear, nose, and throat department or to the neurology department, were diagnosed as having benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) in its various forms. The pathology was located in the posterior canal in 477 patients, in the horizontal canal in 142, and in the anterior canal in 22. Multiple canals were affected in 20 patients (table 1).
Laterality of the affected ear in different forms of BPPV
The right ear was 1.50 times more frequently involved than the left. The predominance of the right ear was seen in all types of BPPV (table 1).
Hence, our data confirm the preponderance of right sided BPPV. The predilection of right sided BPPV was seen in all variants. Horizontal canal BPPV was observed in 22%, confirming our previous data.2 This number is higher than in other series.3,4 The apogeotropic form should not be considered as a rarity as it contributes to 23% of horizontal canal BPPV in our series and 38% in the series of Casani et al.3
