Efeito do envelhecimento sobre a função vestibular por meio dos potenciais evocados miogênicos vestibulares cervical e ocular

Abstract

The vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) are electrophysiological responses that enable providing information on the saccule otolithic organs (cVEMP), utricle (oVEMP),and the vestibular nerve. During the aging process, morphological changes can affect the functioning of the vestibular system. The objective isto analyze the cervical and ocular VEMP responses of healthy adults and the elderly. The cross-sectionalstudy was carried out with 63 individuals without hearing and vestibular complaints submitted to cVEMP and oVEMP. We observed a bilaterally decrease in the amplitude of both tests, an increase in cVEMP response thresholds, andan increase in left N10 and right P16 latencies in oVEMP. In this study, a decrease in the amplitude of responses was found in the cVEMP and oVEMP exams bilaterally with increasing age. In the cVEMP exam there was an increase in the response threshold bilaterally and in oVEMP there was an increase in the left N10 and right P16 latencies. No difference was found between the asymmetry index in both tests.