Abstract:
Caloric
vestibular stimulation (CVS) has been demonstrated to transiently
modulate a variety of cognitive functions.
These effects are associated
with the brain activation induced by CVS, involving the
temporal-parietal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and insular cortex,
which are thought to form a multimodal vestibular cortical network.
The
present study investigated the effect of CVS upon tinnitus.
Twenty
patients undergoing vestibular function tests for symptoms of imbalance
and who reported tinnitus were asked to rate their tinnitus using visual
analogue measures of pitch and intensity immediately before and after
CVS (H(2)O at 44°C) in the ear ipsilateral to the tinnitus.
One patient
was excluded due to test findings indicative of a central vestibular
abnormality.
The mean VAS pitch (pre-post) changed from 5.65 to 5.28
(95% confidence interval (-0.87, 0.12), p-value 0.13) and the mean
change in intensity changed from 5.21 to 4.43 (95% confidence interval
(-1.60, 0.04), p-value 0.06).
The findings indicate that there is no
consistent influence of CVS upon tinnitus, and we propose that perceived
pitch and intensity of tinnitus are independent of the multimodal
vestibular network that is activated by CVS.
Fuente: Neurosci Lett 492(1):52-4
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