SHIMP evaluation in individuals with peripheral vestibular disorder

Objective: To determine vestibuloocular reflex(VOR) gains and differences between gain values in healthy and peripheral vestibular loss individuals with Suppresion Head Impulse Paradigm (SHIMP) test. Method: A total of 80 participants, 44 females and 36 males, aged 18-65 years were included in the study. While 30 of the participants are in the control group, 50 of them are in the case group. Participants with unilateral peripheral vestibular disfunction who were diagnosed with Meniere's disease(MD) were 16.3%(13), while participants diagnosed with vestibular neuritis(VN) were 7.5%(6), and 38%(31) of participants diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). Head Impulse Paradigm (HIMP) and SHIMP tests were applied to all participants using the Otometrics ICS Impulse device. Results: While no significant difference was found between the case and control groups in terms of gender (p˃0.05), a significant difference was obtained in terms of the age variable (p<0.05). Case group is older than the control group. The right lateral canal SHIMP VOR value of the MD and VN patient group is lower than both the control group and the BPPV patient group (p<0.05). Left lateral channel SHIMP VOR value of the MD patient group was lower than both the control group and other patient groups (p<0.05). In both groups, the left lateral canal SHIMP VOR value was lower than the right lateral canal SHIMP VOR value (p<0.05). In addition, HIMP VOR values for both canals are significantly higher than SHIMP VOR values (p = 0.001<0.05). Conclusion: According to the findings, SHIMP can be used as a complement to HIMP in the evaluation of peripheral vestibular disorders. However, more studies are required on the clinical use of SHIMP.