BPPV is the second most common form of vertigo. Reported prevalence ranges from 10 to 140 per 100,000 and lifetime prevalence is at least 2.4%; prevalence of 9-11% have been found in a population older than 75 years.
The leading symptom is recurrent attacks of spinning vertigo, each triggered by changes in position relative to gravity and lasting from seconds to one minute. The cause is usually freely moving otoconia in the posterior arcuate canal (so-called canalolithiasis); the horizontal canal is affected much less frequently. In 70% of patients there is a spontaneous remission within days. In case of persistence, about 95% of patients can be successfully treated with so-called freeing maneuvers, e.g., the Sémont maneuver. However, this often requires 20 to 30 maneuvers over several days.
Based on
- our own biophysical studies, which we performed together with colleagues from Switzerland on a mechanical model of positional vertigo and which show that theoretically 24 the effectiveness of the Sémont maneuvers can be increased by changing the positional angle by 30° in the so-called step two of the positional maneuvers, as well as
- an analysis of the comparison of the conventional Sémont maneuver with the so-called SémontPLUS maneuver, which shows that the mean time to freedom from symptoms for the Sémont maneuver is 3.9 days and only 2.3 days for the SémontPLUS maneuver (p<0.05), the efficacy of the Epley maneuver will be compared with the SemontPLUS maneuver in a parallel group design.
The primary endpoint is the duration, i.e., days ("mornings") until freedom from symptoms with continuation of the two maneuvers in the following days, three times in the morning, at noon and in the evening. This is assessed by the patient's statements that he/she can still induce rotational vertigo or not during the positioning maneuvers to the affected side performed by him/herself.
