Electronystagmography findings in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) and type 2 (SCA2)

• Autor(a) principal: Zeigelboim,Bianca Simone
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Teive,Hélio A.G., Sampaio,Rosane, Jurkiewicz,Ari Leon, Liberalesso,Paulo B.N.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2011000600007
• topic: spinocerebellar ataxias; vestibular dysfunction; electronystagmography

OBJECTIVE: To describe the alterations observed in electronystagmography (ENG) of patients with spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) types 2 and 3. METHOD: Sixteen patients were studied and the following procedures were carried out: anamnesis, otorhinolaryngological and vestibular evaluations. RESULTS: The clinical findings in the entire group of patients were: gait disturbances (93.75%), dysarthria (43.75%), headache (43.75%), dizziness (37.50%) and dysphagia (37.50%). In the vestibular exam, the rotatory (62.50%) and caloric (75%) tests were among those which presented the largest indexes of abnormalities; the presence of alterations in the exams was 87.50%, with a predominance of central vestibular disorders in 68.75% of the exams. CONCLUSION: Vestibular exams could be an auxiliary tool to investigate SCAs, besides a precise clinical approach and, particularly, molecular genetic tests.