Evaluation of video head impulse test (vHIT) findings in chronic otitis media

The aim of this study is; the evaluation of vestibular system with vHIT in patients with chronic otitis media (COM). Sixty unilateral COM patients between the ages of 18-65 and 30 healthy individuals were included in the study. The patients werw subdivided into 2 groups; 30 patients in the first group had COM with active infection and drainge, 30 patients in the second group had no drainge inactive flow-free COM patients. All subjects underwent ear nose examination, audiological evaluation, dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) and vHIT which measured the perception of dizziness. The saccade parameters in vHIT were not included in the analysis since the saccades were seen in only 3 subjects. There was no significant difference between the study and control groups for the lateral semicircullar channels (SCC) but there was a significant difference between the posterior and anterior SCC. In the patient group, there was no significant difference in the lateral SCC between the diseased ear and the opposite normal ear and there were significant differences in the posterior and anterior SCC in various directions. When the patients were subdivided into active ear drainge inactive subgroups, no significant difference was found. No significant difference was found between the patient and control group in the DHI results; which was applied to measure the perception of dizziness. İt was found that the perception of dizziness in the individuals with active discharge was significantly higher. As a result, COM was found to affect the anterior and posterior SCC, but it was found that dizziness of the patients with active dischange was higher. However, all these significant statistical differences observed in the anterior and posterior canals are not clinically pathological. In addition, vHIT test may be used to evaluate the vestibular damage of KOM patients due to the significant differences in the anterior and posterior channels. In addition, it is also considered that our study will be aid to further future studies.