Longitudinal tracking of gait and balance impairments in cerebellar disease

Susanne M. Morton, Ya Weng Tseng, Kathleen M. Zackowski, Jaclyn R. Daline, Amy J. Bastian

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cerebellar damage typically results in ataxia and can be caused by stroke, tumor, or one of many forms of degenerative disease. Since few pharmacological options are available, most treatments rely heavily on rehabilitation therapy. Little data exist on methods for tracking the progression of ataxia, which is critical for assessing the efficacy of current and newly developing treatments. Here, we tracked the severity of ataxia, with a particular emphasis on gait and balance dysfunction, in a group of individuals with cerebellar damage using the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS) and several instrumented laboratory measures of gait and balance impairments over 1 year. We found that the ICARS was able to distinguish between subjects with static lesions and those with degenerative disorders, was sensitive to increases in ataxia severity occurring over 1 year, and correlated well with specific instrumented measures of gait in persons with cerebellar degeneration. These results suggest the ICARS is a valuable tool for clinicians and investigators to document and track long-term changes in gait and balance performance in individuals with cerebellar degenerative disorders.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1944-1952
Number of pages9
JournalMovement Disorders
Volume25
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 15 2010

Keywords

  • Ataxia
  • Cerebellum
  • Clinical assessment
  • ICARS
  • Sensitivity
  • Walking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Longitudinal tracking of gait and balance impairments in cerebellar disease'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this