Dr. John McNaughton Epley (born in Eugene, Oregon in 1930, died in Vancouver, Washington in 2019) was an otologic surgeon who proposed that the mechanism of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) was loose otoliths in the semicircular canals (Epley 1980). This idea was poorly received by his peers at the time, but Dr. Epley was eventually proven correct. The eponymous maneuver treats the most common version of BPPV, that involving the posterior canal. Dr. Epley authored or co-authored numerous subsequent papers on this topic (Epley 1992, 1995, 1996, 2001; Li and Epley 2006; Li et al. 2000; Nakayama and Epley 2005).
References
Epley JM (1980) New dimensions of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg (1979) 88: 599-605. doi: 10.1177/019459988008800514
Epley JM (1992) The canalith repositioning procedure: for treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 107: 399-404. doi: 10.1177/019459989210700310
Epley JM (1995) Positional vertigo related to semicircular canalithiasis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 112: 154-61. doi: 10.1016/s0194-59989570315-2
Epley JM (1996) Particle repositioning for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Otolaryngol Clin North Am 29: 323-31.
Epley JM (2001) Human experience with canalith repositioning maneuvers. Ann N Y Acad Sci 942: 179-91. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb03744.x
Li JC, Epley J (2006) The 360-degree maneuver for treatment of benign positional vertigo. Otol Neurotol 27: 71-7. doi: 10.1097/01.mao.0000188350.52053.d6
Li JC, Li CJ, Epley J, Weinberg L (2000) Cost-effective management of benign positional vertigo using canalith repositioning. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 122: 334-9. doi: 10.1016/s0194-5998(00)70043-x
Nakayama M, Epley JM (2005) BPPV and variants: improved treatment results with automated, nystagmus-based repositioning. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 133: 107-12. doi: 10.1016/j.otohns.2005.03.027
