Etiological diagnoses of vertebrobasilar insufficiency with dizziness in 773 patients over a 10-year period in Suzhou, China

Abstract

Objective: Dizziness and vertigo were common but nonspecific symptoms of vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI), while out-of-date VBI has been falsely considered the major cause of dizziness symptoms by many clinicians in China. The objective of this study was to re-evaluate etiological diagnosis of VBI with dizziness symptoms among the hospitalized patients during the past 10 years.
Methodology: Retrospectively searched patients with the diagnosis of VBI in the in-patient database of the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, China from January 1997 to December 2007. The original medical information were examined by the neurological specialists or combined with other specialists (such as otological specialists and cardiac specialists). The terms of dizziness symptoms and the diagnoses of related diseases were strictly distinguished.
Results: Seven hundred and seventy three patients were entered in the study. Five hundred and forty five patients (70.50%) were from Department of Neurology. After re-assessment, 462 (59.77%) cases had vertigo as chief complaint. Sixty seven (8.67%) met diagnostic criteria of vertebrobasilar TIA. Forty one patients (5.30%) were attributed to benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. There were 35 cases of Meniere