Covert-saccades, Dynamic Visual Acuity and Quality of Life

NCT ID: NCT02753179

Last Updated: 2025-09-04

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 20 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2016-05-31
• Study Completion Date: 2017-01-31

Brief Summary

Patients with chronic bilateral vestibular hypofunction may suffer from a visual instability during head movement called oscillopsia. Visual consequence of vestibular deficit can lead to a severe impairment of their quality of life. However, correcting saccades during rapid head movement, called covert-saccades, have been more recently identified. These saccades, which occur during the head movement in patients with vestibular hypofunction, present a very short latency. They could compensate for the lack of vestibular-ocular reflex and greatly decrease oscillopsia and visual impairment. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential functional benefice of these compensatory movements in a population of 20 patients with chronic bilateral areflexia, in a cross-sectional study.

Conditions

Vestibular Diseases

Study Design

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

Study Groups

Bilateral vestibular hypofunction

Patients suffering from chronic bilateral vestibular hypofunction.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Head Impulse Tests

Intervention Type: OTHER

Head Impulse Tests are performed by the clinician who holds the patient's head in his hands, while he is looking straight at an earth-fixed target; then by turning the patient's head abruptly and unpredictably to the left or right, up or down through a small angle (only 10-20 degrees - not a large angle). 20 impulses in each directions (6) will be performed.

Dynamic visual acuity Test (DVAT)

Intervention Type: OTHER

Dynamic visual acuity Test (DVAT) assesses visual acuity during head movement relative to baseline static visual acuity. DVA will be assessed actively during self-generated rotations of the head in different directions.

VEMPs & VEMPo

Intervention Type: OTHER

VEMPs \& VEMPo are sound evoked muscular contractions of the neck or eye. They are recorded using an evoked response computer, a sound generator, and surface electrodes to pick up neck or eye muscle activation.

Dizziness Handicap Inventory

Intervention Type: OTHER

Dizziness Handicap Inventory is a questionnaire that identify difficulties that patient may be experiencing because of dizziness, yielding to a score ranging from 0 to 100

Oscillopsia severity questionnaire

Intervention Type: OTHER

Oscillopsia severity questionnaire is a 9 items questionnaires that identify oscillopsia in different circumstances.

Interventions

Head Impulse Tests

Head Impulse Tests are performed by the clinician who holds the patient's head in his hands, while he is looking straight at an earth-fixed target; then by turning the patient's head abruptly and unpredictably to the left or right, up or down through a small angle (only 10-20 degrees - not a large angle). 20 impulses in each directions (6) will be performed.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Dynamic visual acuity Test (DVAT)

Dynamic visual acuity Test (DVAT) assesses visual acuity during head movement relative to baseline static visual acuity. DVA will be assessed actively during self-generated rotations of the head in different directions.

Intervention Type: OTHER

VEMPs & VEMPo

VEMPs \& VEMPo are sound evoked muscular contractions of the neck or eye. They are recorded using an evoked response computer, a sound generator, and surface electrodes to pick up neck or eye muscle activation.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Dizziness Handicap Inventory

Dizziness Handicap Inventory is a questionnaire that identify difficulties that patient may be experiencing because of dizziness, yielding to a score ranging from 0 to 100

Intervention Type: OTHER

Oscillopsia severity questionnaire

Oscillopsia severity questionnaire is a 9 items questionnaires that identify oscillopsia in different circumstances.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Bilateral Vestibular Hypofunction (BVH) with at least two of the tree following criteria

• Mean peak slow phase velocity of 5°/s or less in bilateral bithermal (30 and 44°C) caloric irrigations
• Pathologic Head-impulse test
• VOR gain of <0.25 on rotatory chair tests
• Disorder present for over 6 month
• Comprehension of the experiments instructions
• Patient consent

Exclusion Criteria

• Corrected Visual Acuity lower than 5/10
• Other conditions leading to oscillopsia or ataxia
• Oculomotor palsy, ocular instability in primary position
• Cervical rachis pathology with instability
• Cochlear Implants
• Non-stabilized medical disease
• Pregnant women
• Patients under tutelage

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 90 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Hospices Civils de Lyon

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Caroline TILIKETE, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France

Locations

Unité de Neuro-Ophtalmologie Hôpital Neurologique

Bron, , France

Countries

France

References

Hermann R, Pelisson D, Dumas O, Urquizar C, Truy E, Tilikete C. Are Covert Saccade Functionally Relevant in Vestibular Hypofunction? Cerebellum. 2018 Jun;17(3):300-307. doi: 10.1007/s12311-017-0907-0.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 29248983 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

69HCL15_0746

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id