Measuring Neurological Impairment and Functional Visual Assessment In Spinocerebellar Ataxias

Measuring the various difficulties patients with spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA) report in an accurate manner is important to be able to test any therapy that may be developed. As basic research identifies some therapy of this type, clinicians are planning studies that can either prove or disprove that such treatments actually have an effect. Walking problems and problems with eye movements that can give rise to visual complaints are common in the SCA's. Existing neurological scales such as the "SARA" are based on the usual neurological examination items that can carry a degree of subjective bias. Also the intervals between numbers on such scores often do not carry the same "weight" so that the difference between a score of 1 and 2 may not be equal to difference between 2 and 3. Lastly, such scales done in the clinic setting capture only a brief period of a patient's day. We propose that examination of home based gait monitoring, timed tests of motor function and quantitative measures of visual problems in patients with SCA are more useful in measuring the disability in these patients.