NEURO-OTOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN CONCUSSION OF THE BRAIN

Abstract

Vertigo, in some form, is perhaps the most persistent symptom following concussion of the brain. Approximately 90 per cent of the patients describe some degree of equilibratory disturbance ranging from a mere feeling of uncertainty to actual systematized vertigo. In work on industrial accidents it is frequently difficult to determine how much foundation in fact there is in the constant complaint of posttraumatic dizziness; in other words, it is difficult to evaluate how much is organic, and how much is functional. If a person who has sustained an injury to the head states that he is dizzy, what means has one to corroborate his statement? This question is especially important when the factor of compensation for disability must be considered. A means at hand to throw light on the problem seems to offer itself in the functional tests of the kinetic-static labyrinth, over the responses of which the patient has