Objective: To assess independence, confidence and balance for  development daily activities in patients with SCAs, before and after rehabilitation with virtual reality (ViR).

Background: Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are a heterogeneous group of neurodegenerative diseases, featuring the presence of progressive cerebellar ataxia, whose early clinical symptoms are balance and motor coordination decline and ocular disorders.

Method: A prospective study was conducted with 28 patients suffering from SCA (mean of 41.6 years ± 16.9). The patients underwent anamnesis, otolaryngological assessment, vestibular screening, and the application of protocols from the Vestibular Disorders Activities of Daily Living Scale (VADL), Confidence Scale (ABC), applied before and after ViR.

Results: The most reported otoneurological complaints were: imbalance (85.7%),fall (28.5%), dizziness (17.8%), diplopia (10.7%), and tremor (7.1%); Vestibular screening evidenced disorders in 64.3%, prevalence of peripheral vestibulopathy in 35.7%; For VADL questionnaire scoring  significant difference in the 1^st (p=0.0001), and in the 2^nd assessment (p=0.0004) for the three dimensions (functional, ambulatory and instrumental). In the 3^rd assessment, there was significant difference only for the functional dimension (p=0.0013); For ABC questionnaire no significant difference was found between the scores of the three assessments (p=0.1193); Correlation between VADL and ABC questionnaires showed significant in all cases; Correlation between ages and disease length with the VADL and ABC questionnaires was significant for age, and for the instrumental dimension of the VADL questionnaire in the 3^rd assessment (p=0.0155). The correlation between the disease length and the VADL questionnaire was significant in all cases; The comparison of the vestibular rehabilitation result showed significant difference for all of the applied games, except for the ski slalom. The comparison of the vestibular rehabilitation result showed significant difference for all of the applied games: soccer heading (p=0.0154), Tightrope (p=0.0000), table tilt (p=0.0000) e ski slalom (p=0.0178).

Conclusion: We can point out the importance of the rehabilitation with ViR in SCA sufferers due to its benefits, reducing the frequency of falls, enhancing patients’ self-confidence, and promoting physical and psychical recovery, with straight improvement in their quality of life.

« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2020

MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-use-of-virtual-reality-to-assess-the-quality-of-life-in-patients-with-spinocerebellar-ataxia/