Dizziness as a sign of stroke.

Dizziness is a common medical complaint. It “is the third most common medical symptom reported in general medical clinics and accounts for about 3%– 5% of visits across care settings. In the United States, this translates to 10 million ambulatory visits per year because of dizziness, with roughly 25% of these visits to emergency departments. 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 most instances, dizziness is not a sign that something serious is happening. Often, it simply means that the person has a virus or a problem that affects the inner ear. Dizziness due to a virus resolves when the viral illness ends. Another common cause of dizziness is a condition called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). BPPV is benign, meaning that it is not a sign of a more serious underlying neurologic illness. The diagnosis is based on the patient’s history and examination. In a small percentage of people, dizziness can be a sign of something more serious. Dizziness could signal that a stroke is occurring. It is not easy for a doctor to know when the dizziness is serious. However, certain kinds of medical testing might help to make this determination. When a person sees his or her doctor (or goes to the emergency department) complaining of dizziness, what tests can be done to determine whether a stroke may have occurred? In their article “Stroke risk stratification in acute dizziness presentations: A prospective imaging-based study,” Dr. Kerber et al. studied this question.