Quantitative Analysis of Stance in Late Cortical Cerebellar Atrophy of the Anterior Lobe and Other Forms of Cerebellar Ataxia

Abstract

(1) Methods have been developed to measure, analyse and document postural sway. The main parameters studied were: average sway amplitude; length of the sway path per unit time; sway direction and sway position histograms; and the frequency spectra of the antero-posterior and lateral sway components. (2) Postural ataxia was quantitatively studied in three groups of patients with cerebellar lesions: (a) late atrophy of the anterior lobe, (b) tumours of the cerebellar hemisphere and (c) tumours within the vestibulo-cerebellum. Characteristic differences were found. (3) Patients with anterior lobe lesion show a specific 3 Hz postural tremor in the antero-posterior direction. The tremor can be evoked by sudden destabilization in incipient cases. Less characteristic and smaller in amplitude is a mainly lateral sway component with an average frequency of 0.5 Hz. This is also seen in cases with spinal ataxia. Visual stabilization of posture is frequently preserved. Its amount does not correlate with general instability of posture. Tremor and characteristically exaggerated intersegmental responses between head, trunk, hips and legs are interpreted as the consequence of hyper-excitability of postural reflexes in these patients. (4) Patients with lesions of the hemispheres show only slight postural instability without directional preference. Their sway parameters with eyes open are within the 2 sigma range of normals and there is no significant difference from normals in these parameters even when the eyes are closed. Therefore these patients cannot be distinguished from normals by means of their platform recordings. (5) Two patients with posterior vermal and flocculo-nodular lesions were very unstable without preferred axis or frequency of instability. In contrast to the anterior lobe group the instability was characterized by the absence of intersegmental movements.

Static stabilometry in patients with migraine and tension‐type headache during a headache‐free period

“…The stabilographic study has been reported to contribute to the diagnoses of cerebellar ataxia. 15,16 Recent studies suggest that stabilometry are not always suitable to specify the anatomical region of the responsible focus; however, it can detect subtle vestibulospinal dysfunction. [17][18][19] The mean values of LNG, ENV-AREA, and REC-AREA in EC sessions of the migraine group were significantly greater than in controls, however, the degree of abnormality of stabilometric parameters were smaller than the results of ataxic patients in the literature.…”

Balance control: sex and age differences in 9- to 16-year-olds

“…Increased power at high frequencies is indicative of instability in adults (Mauritz et al 1979), as is excessive sway in the mediolateral direction (Maki et al 1994, Mitchell et al 1995. While boys had shown age-related reductions in total power, their mean and median power frequency values were consistently lower than girls at 9 to 10 years of age.…”

“…Frequency analysis of COP has previously been used to measure the development of, or to determine any abnormalities in, the control systems when standing (Mauritz et al 1979, Riach and Hayes 1987, Portfors-Yeomans and Riach 1995, Wolff et al 1998. It has been suggested that increased power at the low end of the frequency spectrum (<0.8Hz) may reflect 'qualitative differences' in vestibular function (Riach and Hayes 1987).…”

Effects of Pesticides on the Peripheral and Central Nervous System in Tobacco Farmers in Malaysia: Studies on Peripheral Nerve Conduction, Brain-Evoked Potentials and Computerized Posturography

“…Sum of the root 20) . Frequency analysis could be useful in understanding the mechanism of neurotoxicity of occupational and environmental factors, as many clinical studies [31][32][33][34][35][36] have suggested that disorders of the vestibular, spinocerebellar afferent, and cerebellar systems are related to the following changes in specific frequency domains and directions of postural sway.…”