Does my dizzy patient have a stroke? A systematic review of bedside diagnosis in acute vestibular syndrome

摘要

Dizziness is the third most common major medical symptom reported in general medical clinics and accounts for about 3%-5% of visits across care settings. Many patients have transient or episodic symptoms that last seconds, minutes or hours, but some have prolonged dizziness that persists continuously for days to weeks.In this article, we use the term "dizziness" to encompass vertigo, presyncope, unsteadiness, and other nonspecific forms of dizziness. When dizziness develops acutely, is accompanied by nausea or vomiting, unsteady gait, nystagmus and intolerance to head motion, and persists for a day or more, the clinical condition is known as acute vestibular syndrome. Transient dizziness has a differential diagnosis distinct from that of acute vestibular syndrome, and the approach to diagnosis should differ accordingly.