Short‐ and Long‐Term Outcomes of Canalith Repositioning for Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

TLDR

The study prospectively enrolled 168 BPPV patients who underwent canalith repositioning and were followed for an average of 26 months via yearly telephone interviews. After 1–2 CRP sessions, 91.3 % of patients achieved complete symptom resolution, but 26.8 % experienced recurrence, with a 15 % annual recurrence rate and a 50 % chance of recurrence by 40 months, independent of sex, age, symptom duration, etiology, or provider.

Abstract

This is a prospective, nonrandomized study of the canalith repositioning procedure (CRP) for treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). CRP was used to treat 168 patients with BPPV. Patient data were gathered by yearly telephone interviews to determine whether symptoms of position‐induced vertigo had returned. After 1 or 2 treatment sessions 91.3% of patients reported complete symptom resolution. Average follow‐up for the study population after the initial treatment was 26 months. A recurrence rate of 26.8% was found among those patients who initially reported resolution of symptoms after CRP. Application of recurrence data to a Kaplan‐Meier estimation suggests a 15% recurrence rate per year of BPPV, with a 50% recurrence rate of BPPV at 40 months after treatment. There was no significant association between cure or recurrence rate and sex, age, duration of symptoms, presumed cause, or treating physician.