Utilidad clínica de los potenciales evocados miogénicos vestibulares (VEMPs)

Abstract

Introduction and objectives: At the beginning of the 1990s, Colebath and Halmagyi demonstrated that measuring the potential myogenic evoked from an acoustic or vibratory stimulation of the labyrinth is possible, giving name to what since then we call Vestibular-Evoked-Myogenic-Potentials (VEMPs). The objective of this review, aims to meet the anatomic-functional bases of the VEMPs and to describe their current clinical applications. Method: This is a descriptive work from the most relevant bibliography, summarizing the features, obtaining procedures and clinical utility of the VEMPs. Results and conclusion: Using the ocular VEMPs (oVEMPs) and cervical (cVEMPs), we can obtain practical, clinical information on the utricular and saccular functions. Both procedures are specific, simple, fast, reproducible and safe. When these results are combined with other vestibular tests, they provide knowledge of the functional of each one of the sensory receptors of the labyrinth.