Gait Analysis in Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: A Single Centre Experience

Introduction:Gait impairment is the earliest symptom of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH). This study objectively investigates gait changes using Ambulatory Parkinson’s Disease Monitoring inertial sensors after cerebrospinal fluid withdrawal in patients with iNPH.Methods:Two-minute walkway tests were performed in eleven patients with iNPH before and after the spinal tap test (TT) or ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery. Gait parameters were analyzed and compared for each patient individually before and after the intervention.Results:Eleven patients with iNPH (six female, five male) with a median age of 76 (68-76) were included in the study. After the spinal TT or ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery, patients exhibited increased cadence (steps per minute) and decreased step and stride time (p=0.008, for all).Conclusion:APDM inertial sensors may provide a quantitative gait assessment in patients with iNPH

Individual-based predominance of visual input in multisensorial integration for balance is correlated with proprioceptive drift in rubber hand illusion

Abstract Rubber hand illusion (RHI) is a traditional task that examines multisensory integration. The visual capture of tactile stimulus given to the seen rubber hand was considered to predominate the sensory processing and interfere with the bottom-up proprioceptive and tactile inputs received from the unseen real hand that results in mislocalization of participants hand towards rubber hand, namely proprioceptive drift (PD). Another task that requires multisensorial integration and shows a predominance of visual input is the maintenance of body posture. However, if the predominance of visual input in one task is generalizable to another task is yet to be elucidated. We aimed to examine if individual dependency on visual inputs in multisensorial integration in balance correlated with PD in RHI. Twenty healthy participants were recruited for the study and completed the RHI task. The contribution of visual inputs to the static body balance was measured with the instrumented clinical test of sensory interaction for balance and indexed with Romberg Quotient (RQ). We found a moderate positive correlation between PD and RQ. Individuals with more dependence on visual information in maintaining body posture had higher PD in RHI. Our results indicate that there can be an individual-based dependence on particular domains of sensory input preserved during different tasks of multisensorial integration. Future studies must clarify whether this tendency relates to certain physical or physiological traits