Comparison of EOG and VOG obtained eye movements during horizontal head impulse testing

Maksim Pleshkov*, Vasilii Zaitsev, Dmitrii Starkov, Vladimir Demkin, Herman Kingma, Raymond van de Berg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Introduction: Video head impulse testing is frequently used to evaluate the vestibular function. During this test, eye movement responses are recorded with video-oculography (VOG). However, the use of VOG can sometimes be challenging, especially due to pupil detection problems (e.g., blinking, droopy eyelids, etc.). Therefore, this study investigated whether electro-oculography (EOG), a technique that does not depend on pupil tracking but on the orientation of the corneoretinal potential, might be an alternative to VOG for quantifying eye movement responses during head impulse testing.

Subjects and methods: Head impulse testing was performed in 19 healthy subjects without a prior history of vestibular symptoms. Horizontal eye movements were recorded simultaneously with EOG (using an EOG system) and VOG (using a VHIT system: ICS Impulse). The eye movement responses to each side of both techniques were compared using a concordance correlation coefficient (r c ), t-testing, and Bayes Factor (BF) paired t-testing.

Results: EOG and VOG obtained eye movement traces that correlated well with each other during head impulse testing (average r c = 0.89). Average VOR gains obtained with EOG and VOG were not significantly different from each other for all subjects during left head impulses. However, VOG gains differed between both techniques regarding right head impulses. VOG showed significant VOR gain asymmetry (5% to the right), whereas EOG showed no significant asymmetry (1% to the right).

Conclusion: This study demonstrated the use of EOG to record eye movements during head impulse testing for the first time. EOG and VOG obtained eye movement traces that correlated well with each other during horizontal head impulse testing. In addition, EOG showed smaller VOR gain asymmetry in healthy individuals, in contrast to VOG. These findings indicate that EOG might potentially be applicable as an alternative to VOG for collecting eye movement responses during head impulse testing.

Trial registration number: 10192021-38 dated 19.10.21.

Original languageEnglish
Article number917413
Number of pages10
JournalFrontiers in Neurology
Volume13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Sept 2022

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Comparison of EOG and VOG obtained eye movements during horizontal head impulse testing'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this