Evaluation of the effect of gase exercises on vestibulocular gain in patients with osilopsy complaint with video head impulse test

Oscillopsia is a component of vertigo and refers to the illusion of unstable vision and to-and-fro movement of the environment caused by head movement. This is due to functional deficiency of the eye movement, which must be balanced in the opposite direction with the head movement. In healthy people, eyes must move in the opposite direction and at the same speed to allow the image to fall onto the retina and remain at this point. The mechanism that provides this physiological condition is called vestibulo-ocular reflex. The video head impulse test (vHIT) is a relatively new objective test to assess function of the vestibular nerve, which is the afferent nerve of the vestibular system and all three semicircular channels. With this test, vestibulo-ocular reflex gain can be quantified. In our study, pre-and post-exercise VAS scores and vHIT measurements of all semicircular canals of 21 patients (14 females and 7 males) who were admitted to our outpatient clinic with oscillopsy and underwent gase stabilization home exercise program were evaluated retrospectively. There was a significant decrease in VAS scores after exercise program (Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test p<0.05). Analysis of the comparison of vHIT measurements before and after exercise showed no significant change in VOR gains after the exercise program (Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test p> 0.05). This study was performed retrospectively with limited sampling and prospective long term studies with larger samples are needed.