Gaze Holding in Cerebellar Patients

NCT ID: NCT02185313

Last Updated: 2020-01-07

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 22 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2013-08-31
• Study Completion Date: 2019-11-30

Brief Summary

The long-term goal of this research is to advance the investigators knowledge of how the cerebellum a) controls gaze holding and compensates for impaired gaze stability and b) modulates vestibular information that is forward-ed from the labyrinth and brought to perception. While gaze holding is stable also at large angles of gaze eccentricity in healthy human subjects, patients with chronic (degenerative) cerebellar disorders are inable to stabilize gaze in eccentric positions, resulting in eye drift towards primary (straight-ahead) position and com-pensatory gaze-evoked nystagmus. When returning to primary position, a compensatory nystagmus into the opposite direction (called rebound nystagmus) can be observed in these patients. Unlike patients with de-generative cerebellar disorders, patients suffering from ischemic of hemorrhagic stroke within the cerebellum present with acute deficits of gaze holding and verticality perception.

While a linear relationship between the amount of eye velocity drift and eccentricity of eye position has been proposed in healthy human subjects, others suggested non-linear behaviour. The strategy of this research is to characterize gaze holding and verticality perception in healthy human subjects and patients with either acute (ischemic or hemorrhagic) or chronic degenerative cerebellar disorders and to relate eye movement findings with structural imaging of the cerebellum. The investigators will therefore analyze key cerebellar structures with regards to loss of volume and relate these imaging findings with the participants' ability to hold gaze and es-timate direction of vertical. The investigators hypothesize that besides the flocculus other vestibulo-cerebellar structures are involved in gaze holding and verticality perception in humans.

Conditions

Gaze Holding in Humans; Rebound in Humans

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

gaze holding

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

visual stimulus to follow

Intervention Type: OTHER

Interventions

visual stimulus to follow

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. ages 18-85

2. informed consent

3. for group 1: acute (i.e. symptom onset <14 days ago) cerebellar ischemia or hemorrhage as confirmed by clinical examination and brain imaging (CT or MRI)

4. for group 2: chronic cerebellar degeneration as confirmed by clinical examination (presence of downbeat-nystagmus and / or gaze-evoked nystagmus and / or ataxia of gait and stance) in the absence of focal lesions (as previous cerebellar stroke, mass lesion or inflammation) on clinical routine cerebellar imaging

Exclusion Criteria

1. has MRI contraindications such as pacemaker, implanted pumps, shrapnel, etc. (full MRI screening form will be filled out).

2. disturbed consciousness

3. other neurological or systemic disorder which can cause dementia or cognitive dysfunction

4. Pregnancy or possible pregnancy if not ruled out by a negative pregnancy test.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 85 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Zurich

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Dominik Straumann, Prof MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University Hospital Zurich, Division of Neurology

Locations

University Hospital Zurich, Division of Neurology

Zurich, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland

Countries

Switzerland

Other Identifiers

gaze_holding_cerebellar_zurich

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id