Disease relevance of Gait Ataxia

• Ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 2 (AOA2) is a newly described autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia (ARCA) defined by genetic location to 9q34 of three families sharing gait ataxia, oculomotor apraxia and/or elevated alpha-foetoprotein (AFP) levels [1].
• RESULTS: All three patients presented with cerebellar dysfunction that included relatively nondisabling gait ataxia and dysarthria, as well as hyperreflexia [2].
• Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is a neuro-degenerative disease causing limb and gait ataxia and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy [3].
• Those particularly associated with valproate were weight increase, alopecia and appetite increase, and with carbamazepine, rashes, somnolence, diplopia and abnormal gait/ataxia [4].
• On the other hand, one patient with suspected MS because of mild gait ataxia and right hemiparesis fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for SS [5].

High impact information on Gait Ataxia

• In view of its afferent and efferent connections, destruction of the LRT probably contributes to gait ataxia in individuals suffering from SCA3 [6].
• When rats received pyridoxine in doses large enough to cause neuropathy in humans, the animals developed gait ataxia that subsided after the toxin was withdrawn [7].
• GDNF and IGF-I trophic factors delay hereditary Purkinje cell degeneration and the progression of gait ataxia [8].
• Piracetam was demonstrated to be highly effective on tandem gait and gait ataxia in daily doses of 60 g [9].
• Gait ataxia during omeprazole therapy [10].

Gene context of Gait Ataxia

• The majority of patients with Friedreich ataxia present with gait ataxia [11].
• The first symptoms were gait ataxia and clumsiness in all cases, followed by progressive development of severe distal amyotrophy reminiscent of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease [12].
• The classical triad of clinical symptoms described by Wernicke (gait ataxia, ophthalmoplegia, and confusion) are found in only a third of patients upon initial examination [13].
• The clinical manifestations included cognitive impairment, akinetic mutism, sphincter incontinence, gait ataxia and extrapyramidal syndromes such as chorea, dystonia, and parkinsonism [14].

References