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Gait Assessment Using Three-Dimensional Acceleration of the Trunk in Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.

ABSTRACT: Background: The subjective evaluation of pathological gait exhibits a low inter-rater reliability. Therefore, we developed a three-dimensional acceleration of the trunk during walking to assess the pathological gait quantitatively. Methods: We evaluated 97 patients who underwent the cerebrospinal tap test and were diagnosed with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) and 68 healthy elderlies. The gait features of all patients were evaluated and classified as one of the following: freezing of gait, wide-based gait, short-stepped gait, shuffling gait, instability, gait festination, difficulty in changing direction, and balance disorder in standing up. All gait features of 68 healthy elderlies were treated as normal. Trunk acceleration was recorded automatically by a smartphone placed on the umbilicus during a 15-foot walking test. Two novel indices were created. The first index was a trunk acceleration index, which was defined as (forward acceleration fluctuation) + (vertical acceleration fluctuation) - (lateral acceleration fluctuation) based on the multivariate logistics regression model, and the second index was created by multiplying the forward acceleration with the vertical acceleration. Additionally, 95% confidence ellipsoid volume of the three-dimensional accelerations was assessed. Results: Forward and vertical acceleration fluctuations were significantly associated with the probability of an iNPH-specific pathological gait. The trunk acceleration index demonstrated the strongest association with the probability of an iNPH-specific pathological gait. The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves for detecting 100% probability of an iNPH-specific pathological gait were 86.9% for forward acceleration fluctuation, 88.0% for vertical acceleration fluctuation, 82.8% for lateral acceleration fluctuation, 89.0% for trunk acceleration index, 88.8% for forward × vertical acceleration fluctuation, and 87.8% for 95% confidence ellipsoid volume of the three-dimensional accelerations. Conclusions: The probability of a pathological gait specific to iNPH is high at the trunk acceleration fluctuation, reduced in the forward and vertical directions, and increased in the lateral direction.

SUBMITTER: Yamada S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8006335 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Gait disturbance is a major symptom of idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) and is assessed by raters of different professions or with different degrees of experience. Agreement studies are usually done by two raters or more, and comparisons among multiple groups of raters are rare. In this study, we aimed to examine the agreement among multiple groups of raters on gait patterns and a grading scale through a video-assisted gait analysis in patients with iNPH. Fifteen participants with iNPH were enrolled. Gait was assessed according to seven patterns, including freezing and wide-based gaits. The levels of severity (evident, mild, none) were rated by three groups of raters (two neurosurgeons [DR2], three experienced physiotherapists [PTe3], and two less experienced physiotherapists [PTl2]) through a simultaneous video viewing session. Severity of gait disturbance (GSg) was rated using the Japanese iNPH grading scaleiNPHGS, and Krippendorff alpha was computed to assess agreement, with alpha ?0.667 indicating good agreement and alpha ?0.8 indicating excellent agreement. For group comparisons, 84%, not 95%, confidence intervals were applied. Among the seven gait patterns in the first assessment, excellent agreement was observed in wide-based and short-stepped gaits in only DR2. Good agreement was observed in four patterns, but the agreement by two groups was in shuffling and wide-based gait. There were no gait patterns showing good agreement among three groups. In the second assessment, excellent agreement was observed in three patterns but no gait patterns showed good agreement between two groups or more. Learning effect was observed only for standing difficulty in DR2. In contrast, good or nearly good agreement on GSg was observed among the three groups with excellent agreement in two groups. Agreement on gait patterns among the three groups of raters was not high, but agreement on the iNPHGS was high, indicating the importance of a precise description facilitating differentiation between neighboring grades.

Project description:The glymphatic system has in previous studies been shown as fundamental to clearance of waste metabolites from the brain interstitial space, and is proposed to be instrumental in normal ageing and brain pathology such as Alzheimer's disease and brain trauma. Assessment of glymphatic function using magnetic resonance imaging with intrathecal contrast agent as a cerebrospinal fluid tracer has so far been limited to rodents. We aimed to image cerebrospinal fluid flow characteristics and glymphatic function in humans, and applied the methodology in a prospective study of 15 idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus patients (mean age 71.3 ± 8.1 years, three female and 12 male) and eight reference subjects (mean age 41.1 + 13.0 years, six female and two male) with suspected cerebrospinal fluid leakage (seven) and intracranial cyst (one). The imaging protocol included T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging with equal sequence parameters before and at multiple time points through 24 h after intrathecal injection of the contrast agent gadobutrol at the lumbar level. All study subjects were kept in the supine position between examinations during the first day. Gadobutrol enhancement was measured at all imaging time points from regions of interest placed at predefined locations in brain parenchyma, the subarachnoid and intraventricular space, and inside the sagittal sinus. Parameters demonstrating gadobutrol enhancement and clearance in different locations were compared between idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus and reference subjects. A characteristic flow pattern in idiopathic normal hydrocephalus was ventricular reflux of gadobutrol from the subarachnoid space followed by transependymal gadobutrol migration. At the brain surfaces, gadobutrol propagated antegradely along large leptomeningeal arteries in all study subjects, and preceded glymphatic enhancement in adjacent brain tissue, indicating a pivotal role of intracranial pulsations for glymphatic function. In idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus, we found delayed enhancement (P < 0.05) and decreased clearance of gadobutrol (P < 0.05) at the Sylvian fissure. Parenchymal (glymphatic) enhancement peaked overnight in both study groups, possibly indicating a crucial role of sleep, and was larger in normal pressure hydrocephalus patients (P < 0.05 at inferior frontal gyrus). We interpret decreased gadobutrol clearance from the subarachnoid space, along with persisting enhancement in brain parenchyma, as signs of reduced glymphatic clearance in idiopathic normal hydrocephalus, and hypothesize that reduced glymphatic function is instrumental for dementia in this disease. The study shows promise for glymphatic magnetic resonance imaging as a method to assess human brain metabolic function and renders a potential for contrast enhanced brain extravascular space imaging.

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Gait Assessment Using Three-Dimensional Acceleration of the Trunk in Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.

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