As it's "caloric vestibular stimulation", ie. a temperature shock to the bits in the middle of the ear that sense movement and balance, I'd expect having your head upright at the time (not lying with your left ear up) to be important. Can anyone confirm?
Maybe it acts as a superstimulus to the "your off-balance, re-align yourself URGENTLY" reaction?
Comment author:bfoner
13 March 2009 11:02:53PM
18 points
[-]
When this test is done to patients in a hospital, the patient is lying in bed on his back facing upward towards the ceiling. Ice cold water, 60 ml total, is introduced into one ear canal using a syringe. This is repeated in the other ear canal. The water runs out into a basin placed outside the ear to keep the bed dry. Severely brain damaged patients do not have any reaction to this test. This is a test used in examining patients undergoing brain death evaluation, so they are already on a ventilator.
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As it's "caloric vestibular stimulation", ie. a temperature shock to the bits in the middle of the ear that sense movement and balance, I'd expect having your head upright at the time (not lying with your left ear up) to be important. Can anyone confirm?
Maybe it acts as a superstimulus to the "your off-balance, re-align yourself URGENTLY" reaction?
When this test is done to patients in a hospital, the patient is lying in bed on his back facing upward towards the ceiling. Ice cold water, 60 ml total, is introduced into one ear canal using a syringe. This is repeated in the other ear canal. The water runs out into a basin placed outside the ear to keep the bed dry. Severely brain damaged patients do not have any reaction to this test. This is a test used in examining patients undergoing brain death evaluation, so they are already on a ventilator.