Halil Onder1, Umur Poyraz2, Selcuk Comoglu2. 1. Neurology Clinic, Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital, Şehit Ömer Halisdemir Street, No. 20 Altındag, Ankara, Turkey, 06110. halilnder@yahoo.com. 2. Neurology Clinic, Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital, Şehit Ömer Halisdemir Street, No. 20 Altındag, Ankara, Turkey, 06110.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of dopamine oral therapy, the effect of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tap test on gait parameters in our idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) subjects. METHODS: Patients with a possible diagnosis of iNPH who had been admitted to our outpatient polyclinic between March 2022 and May 2022 were enrolled. In addition to the clinical evaluations, basal gait analysis was performed using a "Gait Analyzer" program which was uploaded to a mobile phone. Thereafter, the gait analyses were re-evaluated after levodopa therapy, 4 h and 2 weeks after the CSF tap test at distinct times, separately. RESULTS: Ultimately, the data of 8 patients with iNPH were enrolled in this study (mean age = 67.37 ± 7.74, F/M = 3/5). Friedman's analysis of variance analyses did not show a difference in any parameters of gait between the distinct evaluation times. On the other hand, the pairwise analysis results showed that the step time and cadence had improved after levodopa therapy, whereas no significant improvement was detected in any of the parameters after the CSF tap test. CONCLUSION: In our pilot study, we found that the gait parameters improved after levodopa therapy. However, the gait parameters did not change after the CSF tap test which may suggest that our measurement method might overlook detecting the gait disturbance specific to the iNPH. Future research to develop new evaluation methods and questionnaires detecting the gait disturbance specific to the iNPH pathophysiology may provide substantial clinical applications.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of dopamine oral therapy, the effect of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tap test on gait parameters in our idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) subjects. METHODS: Patients with a possible diagnosis of iNPH who had been admitted to our outpatient polyclinic between March 2022 and May 2022 were enrolled. In addition to the clinical evaluations, basal gait analysis was performed using a "Gait Analyzer" program which was uploaded to a mobile phone. Thereafter, the gait analyses were re-evaluated after levodopa therapy, 4 h and 2 weeks after the CSF tap test at distinct times, separately. RESULTS: Ultimately, the data of 8 patients with iNPH were enrolled in this study (mean age = 67.37 ± 7.74, F/M = 3/5). Friedman's analysis of variance analyses did not show a difference in any parameters of gait between the distinct evaluation times. On the other hand, the pairwise analysis results showed that the step time and cadence had improved after levodopa therapy, whereas no significant improvement was detected in any of the parameters after the CSF tap test. CONCLUSION: In our pilot study, we found that the gait parameters improved after levodopa therapy. However, the gait parameters did not change after the CSF tap test which may suggest that our measurement method might overlook detecting the gait disturbance specific to the iNPH. Future research to develop new evaluation methods and questionnaires detecting the gait disturbance specific to the iNPH pathophysiology may provide substantial clinical applications.