Symptoms and Signs in Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome

Patients with superior canal dehiscence (SCD) syndrome experience vertigo and oscillopsia in response to loud sounds and to stimuli that result in changes in middle ear or intracranial pressure. They may also experience hyperacusis to bone-conducted sounds. The evoked eye movements in this syndrome align with the plane of the dehiscent superior canal. The symptoms and signs can be understood in terms of the effect of the dehiscence in creation of a third mobile window into the inner ear. The SCD syndrome has been diagnosed in 28 patients who were examined in the neuro-otology clinics at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions from May 1995 through January 2001. The diagnosis is best established based upon the symptoms that are characteristic for the syndrome, the vertical-torsional eye movements evoked by sound or pressure stimuli noted on examination performed with Frenzel goggles, the lowered thresholds for responses to vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials, and CT imaging of the temporal bones.