Vestibular function correction decreases increased blood pressure

Background. Vestibular disorders can cause hypertension. Therefore, the problem of this study was to solve the question whether the correction of the vestibular function can result in a decrease of blood pressure. Materials and methods. Fifty-three patients with vestibular disorders treated with combination of dimenhydrinate and cinnarizin were examined. The duration of treatment/monitoring was from 1 to 6 months. The study was conducted in two sessions: 1) normalization of the vestibular function; 2) changes in blood pressure. Examination of the vestibular function was conducted using two methods: a) a 20-point scale for express diagnosis of movement coordination and b) vestibular evoked potentials (VestEP). Blood pressure was measured using an A & D Medical UA-787 Digital monitor (Japan). Results. Mana-gement with a combination of dimenhydrinate and cinnarizine resulted in a sustained long-term improvement of the vestibular condition according to the total data of movement coordination tests. This improvement was significant after one month of treatment in all the tests except the writing and pointing Fukuda test. According to VestEP data, already after one month, there was a significant decrease in the latency of the P1 peak up to the norm and almost to the norm of the N1 peak. Such a result means that the pathological process is localized mainly at the level of the brain stem and partly of the subcortical vestibular nuclei, these structures were the targets of the used medication. Resistance to treatment manifested after one month of the writing and pointing Fukuda test shows that the vestibulo-spinal projection (tracts and nuclei) to the upper extremities has specifics. Long-term treatment resulted in a significant improvement in all coordination tests (including the writing and pointing Fukuda test), but a slight prolongation of all VestEP peaks. This could be explained by the fact that the treatment was not regular (it depended on humanitarian aid). Also, the pathological process tends to progress, even when it is slowed by treatment. Conclusions. These data indicate the usefulness of long-term treatment. Already one month after starting the correction of the vestibular function, the systolic blood pressure significantly decreased, and the heart rate slightly increased. With long-term treatment, diastolic blood pressure also significantly decreased. For stable normalization of blood pressure in patients with hypertension, correction of vestibular function should be carried out.