Caloric reflex test – Knowledge and References

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Brain death and ethical issues

Published in Hemanshu Prabhakar, Charu Mahajan, Indu Kapoor, Essentials of Anesthesia for Neurotrauma, 2018

Physical examination includes the evidence of no cranial nerve reflexes, including pupillary response, oculocephalic reflex, corneal reflex, no response to tracheal suction, no spontaneous respirations, and no caloric reflex test.

Current status on researches of Meniere’s disease: a review

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Journal Information

Published in Acta Oto-Laryngologica, 2020

Yupeng Liu, Jun Yang, Maoli Duan

Caloric test and video-head impulse test (vHIT) can be used to examine the function of semicircular canals. Caloric test mainly assess the horizontal semicircular canal function while vHIT enables instrumental assessment of the vestibulo-ocular reflex in each of the 6 semicircular canals at high frequencies. It has been revealed that vHIT was almost normal in advanced MD patients while only 8% of caloric reflex test results were normal [10]. The contradiction between caloric test and vHIT could be explained as when the head turns in the plane of a semicircular canal, the ampulla neurons are stimulated and neurons in the contralateral canal are inhibited by reverse endolymphatic flow. This mechanism operates in vHIT, but not during caloric reflex testing.