Dizziness: The linguistic aspects of diagnosis.

Aim: Dizziness complaints are the most frequent in patients in the primary health-care system and in the treatment of emergency conditions in the practice of neurologists and general practitioners. Methods: Difficulties in diagnosing dizziness are explained by the fact that the verbal report of a patient plays a leading role in the procedure of diagnosis. There are no instrumental diagnostic methods (except for magnetic resonance imaging with strokes and hearing auric examination for hearing impairment), which allow doctors to determine the cause of dizziness. Results: Thus, specific verbal descriptors are used to diagnose the concrete type of the disease: Vertigo (true rotational dizziness), presyncope, imbalance, vague sensations of faintness, anxiety, and depression. It should be noted that in one patient, two or more types of dizziness can occur simultaneously. Conclusion: The research was conducted at Kazan Federal University Clinic (Kazan, Russia) by the group of clinical linguists and neurologists. The experience of this joint work demonstrates the advisability of such cooperation in clinical situations when the verbal diagnostic component is the key to the assessment of neurological dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]