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SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE · MED

Galvanic vestibular stimulation and its applications: a systematic review.

Braz J Otorhinolaryngol · 2022-07-05

DOI: 10.1016/j.bjorl.2022.05.010PMID: 35915031

Open accessSystematic Review; review-article; Journal ArticleOriginal source ↗

Research overview

The text below is the source article’s original abstract under a verified reuse license. cc by

ObjectiveGalvanic vestibular stimulation has been evaluated in the context of vestibular rehabilitation. The objective was to identify evidence in the scientific literature about the clinical applications of galvanic vestibular stimulation.MethodsIn this systematic review, the articles describing the applications of galvanic vestibular stimulation were extracted from PubMed, Web of Science, MEDLINE, Scopus, LILACS and SciELO databases. The survey was limited to articles published in English, Portuguese and Spanish. All the articles about the clinical applications of galvanic vestibular stimulation were compiled. Repeated articles in the databases, literature review articles, case reports, letters and editorials were excluded. The descriptors included: galvanic vestibular stimulation, postural balance, central nervous system diseases, vestibular diseases, spinal cord diseases and cognition.ResultsThe search strategy resulted in the initial selection of 994 articles; the reading of titles and abstracts was accomplished in 470 articles and the complete reading in 23 articles. Clinical applications of galvanic vestibular stimulation included Ménière's disease, vestibular neuritis, bilateral vestibular disorders, vestibular schwannoma, Parkinson's disease, ischemic central lesions, motor myelopathies, anxiety disorders, cognition and memory.ConclusionGalvanic vestibular stimulation has been considered a potentially useful strategy for balance rehabilitation, since it has the effect of stimulating the central connections related to the postural balance, favoring new neuronal synapses that allow the partial or total recovery of postural imbalance.

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