Disorders of Gaze during Head Rotation

Abstract

We investigated gaze functions during sinusoidal head rotation in patients with peripheral and central vestibular lesions. Various kinds of gaze disturbance appeared in relation to deficient compensation (labyrinthine lesions), inaccurate gain regulation (cerebellar lesions), impaired gaze-induced suppression (cerebellar lesions), and inadequate visual correction (brain stem lesions). Analysis of gaze during head rotation may help to understand the regulation system of the vestibulo-ocular reflex as well as to detect gaze disturbances in patients with vestibular disorders, which cannot be attained by conventional vestibular examinations.