RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs) provide assessment of lower-brainstem lesions affecting their neuronal pathways. We aimed to determine whether cVEMPs to air-conducted sound (ACS) are also abnormal in patients with early stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), with or without bulbar involvement. METHODS: cVEMPs were recorded in 22 ALS patients and 23 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Their latencies and amplitudes were compared between the ALS patients and the control group. RESULTS: cVEMPs were obtained in all ALS patients and controls. P(13) and N(23) latencies and P(13)-N(23) amplitudes did not significantly differ between controls and ALS patients, either with or without bulbar involvement. CONCLUSIONS: We postulate that the ACS-cVEMP neural pathway is not affected in patients with early stages of ALS, even with clinical findings of bulbar involvement. Therefore, ACS-cVEMP is not a sensitive diagnostic tool for early detection of brainstem involvement in patients with ALS.
