Intraoperative Mapping of Vestibular Nerve Subdivisions by Electrical Stimulation

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) are neck-muscle EMGs which are evoked by high-level acoustic stimuli. Recent studies suggest that they are related to saccular hair cell activity and, thus, to inferior vestibular nerve fiber depolarization. The aim of the present study was to investigate if VEMPs, induced by direct electrical stimulation of the human vestibular nerve, are suitable for the intraoperative discrimination between the inferior and superior part of the vestibular nerve. The responses were compared to acoustically evoked VEMPs to evidence the vestibulocollic reflex arch and their saccular…