A Clinical Approach to the Diagnosis and Management of Vestibular Disorders Utilizing a New System of Classification and Introducing a New Syndrome Into the Classification

This article is for clinicians and life care planners which will describe experiences and methods in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with vestibular disorders. A definition of a classification presented in 19941 was found to be successful in classifying vestibular disorders in over 90% of 327 consecutive patients seen in 1990. There have been advances in diagnosis, and new disorders have been identified since that time, such as dehiscence of the semicircular canals. The intention of this article is not to provide an encyclopedic list of the various pathologies that result in vestibular disorders and vestibular symptoms but to provide a pragmatic classification that will allow the clinician to evaluate patients with a diagnostic schema in mind and a method to arrive at a specific diagnosis and focused plan of management that can be useful in a life care plan. The goal of this article is to allow vestibular disorders to be evaluated and opined in a life care plan in the same fashion as disorders and diseases of other bodily systems.