Vertigo in whiplash injury: A presentation of prevalent butterfly patterns of caloric tests

The most common cause of whiplash injury today is the road traffic accidents. These patients report to a neurotologist with complaints of long-standing duration including vertigo, nausea, hearing loss and tinnitus. In addition to neck trauma there is also intracranial trauma due to movement of the brain within the skull thus affecting the brainstem and the supratentorial structures. In this retrospective study 426 patients of whiplash injury were selected from databank NODEC IV of the University head centre, Wurzburg, Germany. The results of monaural caloric test by means of butterfly chart in all these patients were analysed. The authors present the most prevalent caloric butterfly patterns of this study and pathophysiology explaining them. The study reveals that the more frequent pathological patterns in this study are the central brainstem lesions.