The effect of particle repositioning maneuver on the falls of elderly patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo

Objective To study whether there will be a reduction on the falls of elderly patients with BPPV after the particle repositioning maneuver( PRM). Methods The elderly above 60 with BPPV who had falls during the past 5 year was studied retrospectively. All patients accepted the PRM according to the affected semicircular canal. After positioning vertigo and nystagmus subsidised,the patients accepted a 12 month follow-up and were investigated about the number of falls. Wilcoxon's test was performed to compare the number of falls before and after 12 months of the PRM. Results One hundred and forty seven patients were included in the study. One hundred and twenty one patients involved the posterior semicircular canal,18 of the lateral and 8 of the anterior. The Epley maneuver was used for posterior semicircular canal and superior semicircular canal BPPV,and the Lempert maneuver was used for lateral semicircular canal BPPV. We noticed a reduction on the number of falls,with statistically significant difference when all the patients were analyzed together( P 0. 01),the posterior canal BPPV patients( P 0. 01),the lateral canal BPPV patients( P = 0. 001) and the anterior canal BPPV patients( P = 0. 016). Conclusion The PRM could reduce the number of falls of elderly patients with BPPV.