Background And Purpose: Although traditionally regarded as spared, a range of oculomotor dysfunction has been recognized in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. ALS is nowadays considered as a neurodegenerative disorder of a third compartment comprising widespread areas of extra-motor brain including cerebellum. Our objective was to perform an observational study to examine for ocular motor dysfunction in patients with ALS and for any differences between bulbar-onset and spinal-onset patients.
Methods: Thirty two ALS patients (bulbar onset: 10, spinal onset: 22) underwent the standardized systemic evaluations using video-oculography.
Results: Oculomotor dysfunctions such as square wave jerks, saccadic dysmetria, abnormal cogwheeling smooth pursuits and head shaking and positional nystagmus of central origin have been observed in the ALS patients at a relatively early stage. Abnormal smooth pursuits and saccadic dysmetria were increased in the bulbar-onset compared to the spinal-onset (p<0.05).
Conclusions: These oculomotor abnormalities may be a marker of neuro-degeneration beyond motor neurons in ALS, especially in bulbar-onset disease. Future longitudinal studies of eye movement abnormalities have provided insights into the distribution and nature of the disease process.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6172508 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3988/jcn.2018.14.4.464 | DOI Listing |
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