Short-term efficacy of Epley's manoeuvre: a double-blind randomised trial.

Abstract

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo of the posterior canal (PC-BPPV) is a common vestibular disorder and can be easily treated with Epley's manoeuvre. Thus far, the short-term efficacy of Epley's manoeuvre for treatment of PC-BPPV is unknown. To evaluate the efficacy of Epley's manoeuvre for treatment of PC-BPPV 24 h after applying the manoeuvre. The short-term efficacy of Epley's manoeuvre was compared with a sham procedure in 66 patients with PC-BPPV by using a double-blind randomised study design. 24 h after treatment, 28 of 35 (80%) patients in the Epley's manoeuvre group had neither vertigo nor nystagmus on positional testing compared with 3 of 31 (10%) patients in the sham group (p<0.001). Epley's manoeuvre is shown to resolve PC-BPPV both effectively and rapidly.