Stereological volumetric evaluation of the cerebellum in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate cerebellar volume changes and the asymmetry of patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).

METHODS: The cerebellar hemispheres’ volumetric symmetry were evaluated using a stereological method on MR images. The study included 15 patients withBPPV, and 14 age-, and gender-matched control subjects. The cases were admitted to the Departments of Otolaryngology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery in the Faculty of Medicine, Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey with the complaint of vertigo between January 2004 and December 2008.

RESULTS: The right hemi cerebellum volumes of the subjects with BPPV and the controls were measured smaller than the left hemi cerebellar volumes, however, there was no statistically significant quantitative evidence detected in terms of cerebellar asymmetry between sagittal and axial plane estimates in the cases with vertigo. There was statistical significance between the right and left cerebellum in both the patient and control groups (p=0.023), however, the difference did not change according to gender. There were no statistically significant age and gender dependent cerebellar atrophy and asymmetry between BPPV and control subjects.

CONCLUSION: There was no cerebellar atrophy and asymmetry between BPPV and age matched control groups. The stereological evaluation of hemi cerebellar symmetry and atrophy in humans is important for both clinicians and anatomists. The technique is simple, inexpensive, and reliable.