Drop attacks in elderly patients secondary to otologic causes with Meniere's syndrome or non-Meniere peripheral vestibulopathy

Auditory and Vestibular Assessment of Patients with Ménière’s Disease Who Suffer Tumarkin Attacks

“…These events are often described as 'otolithic catastrophes' [Tumarkin, 1936], 'Tumarkin otolithic attacks' or simply Tumarkin attacks (TA). DA are not exclusive to patients with MD as they also occur in patients with other peripheral vestibular disorders [Ishiyama et al, 2003;Brantberg et al, 2005;Lee et al, 2005].…”

Neuro-otology- some recent clinical advances

“…Drop attacks—the patient just drops to the ground—occur in MD and also in some non-MD aural diseases, but not in migraine [42]. Neurologists rarely remember to order audiogram and vestibular function tests, as well as EEG and ECG, in patients with drop attacks [43]. Repeated room tilt illusion attacks—suddenly the whole visual world is tilted or even inverted—might be a related phenomenon: these occur with both MD and migraine, and possibly even with vertebrobasilar TIAs [44, 45].…”

Different types of dizziness in patients with peripheral vestibular diseases – their prevalence and relation to migraine

“…The cause of drop attacks is unknown, but one may speculate that they occur because of a sudden loss in function within the peripheral vestibular organ. Lee and co-workers [9] suggested that otologic causes could explain the presence of drop attacks in the elderly, even if the symptoms are inconsistent with Meniere's syndrome. Ödkvist and Bergenius demonstrated that drop attacks were eliminated in all patients with MD treated with intratympanically applied gentamicin, supporting the explanation of peripheral localization [10].…”