Flunarizine in the treatment of vestibular vertigo: experimental and clinical data.

Because maintenance antivertiginous treatment with commonly used drugs is only moderately effective, there is still need for new therapeutic concepts in the therapy of vestibular vertigo. The cerebral calcium antagonist flunarizine (Sibelium) revealed positive vestibular effects in experimental animal studies and in healthy volunteers. Clinical trials versus placebo and reference drugs proved flunarizine to be effective in the treatment of vestibular disorders. Somnolence, weight gain, and, in rare cases, extrapyramidal symptoms and depression were discussed as side effects. Further studies on flunarizine's mechanism of action are needed to elucidate whether its clinical effects are indeed due to calcium-entry blockade.