[The differential diagnosis in Menières disease: the basilar impression (author's transl)].

We examined the cranio-cervical region in 180 patients with nonspecific dizziness and in most cases unilateral sensory-neural hearing loss. In 32 cases we found malformations of the cranio-cervical region. The sympatomatology of the basilar impression is probably caused by the compression of the vessels of the lower cerebellar regions and the brain stem as well as disturbances of the cerebro-spinal fluid circulation. The basilar impression is diagnosed by means of lateral X-rays of the skull base, tomography of this region and in some cases computertomography of the posterior cranial fossa. The importance of basilar impression in the differential diagnosis of Menières disease and acoustic neuroma is discussed.