Introduction

The incidence of vestibular disorders and vertigo during childhood is increasing and pediatric clinicians have become more sensitive to children's balance disorders; thus, there is a need for appropriate detection test procedures for peripheral vestibular hypofunction. In order to ensure a reliable diagnosis and minimize misdiagnosis, a standardized clinical procedure via careful history and clinical examination is recommended. However, children, especially, are often unable to verbalize “vertigo” in a concrete manner, which often necessitates a consultation with a pediatrician holding nonspecific symptoms. The so-called suppression of the head impulse test (SHIMPs) represents a modification of the video head impulse test (HIMP) and is used for a more sensitive assessment of residual vestibular functions. In adults, SHIMPs are already an established diagnostic method. Nevertheless, to date, nothing is known about the applicability and standard values in childhood.

Material and methods

In this monocentric, prospective study, we investigated whether SHIMPs enable a sensitive functional analysis of the vestibular system in healthy children of different ages. For this purpose, SHIMPs were performed in 40 children aged 3–18 years.

Results

In this study, we demonstrated that SHIMPs can be easily performed in children (3–18 years). It is vital that the test be appropriately explained for children to ensure sufficient test tolerance and compliance.

Conclusion

SHIMPs are a helpful supplement to clinically established vestibular tests such as the HIMP in pediatric vestibular balance disorder diagnostics and can be integrated into the clinical routine, especially in children who have minimal verbal abilities or understanding of the instructions for HIMP. Similar to the HIMP, SHIMPs are characterized by a short test duration and a high tolerance.

中文翻译：

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儿童前庭测试——抑制头部脉冲 (SHIMP) 测试

介绍

儿童前庭障碍和眩晕的发病率正在增加，儿科临床医生对儿童的平衡障碍变得更加敏感；因此，需要对周围前庭功能减退进行适当的检测测试程序。为了确保可靠的诊断并尽量减少误诊，建议通过详细的病史和临​​床检查进行标准化的临床程序。然而，尤其是儿童，往往无法以具体的方式用语言表达“眩晕”，这通常需要咨询持有非特异性症状的儿科医生。所谓的头部脉冲测试 (SHIMP) 抑制代表了视频头部脉冲测试 (HIMP) 的改进，用于对残余前庭功能进行更灵敏的评估。在成年人中，SHIMP 已经是一种既定的诊断方法。然而，迄今为止，对儿童期的适用性和标准值一无所知。

材料与方法

在这项单中心、前瞻性研究中，我们调查了 SHIMP 是否能够对不同年龄健康儿童的前庭系统进行灵敏的功能分析。为此，对 40 名 3-18 岁的儿童进行了 SHIMP。

结果

在这项研究中，我们证明了 SHIMP 可以很容易地在儿童（3-18 岁）中进行。为儿童适当解释测试以确保足够的测试耐受性和依从性至关重要。

结论

SHIMP 是临床建立的前庭测试的有益补充，例如小儿前庭平衡障碍诊断中的 HIMP，可以整合到临床常规中，特别是在语言能力极低或理解 HIMP 说明的儿童中。与 HIMP 类似，SHIMP 的特点是测试持续时间短且耐受性高。