title: Assessment of postural stability using foam posturography at the chronic stage after acute unilateral peripheral vestibular dysfunction.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the utility of foam posturography for assessing equilibrium at the chronic stage after acute unilateral peripheral vestibulopathy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-four consecutive patients (16 patients at the chronic stage) with acute unilateral peripheral vestibulopathy and absent caloric responses unilaterally were recruited, along with 66 healthy control subjects. Two-legged stance tasks were performed in 4 conditions: with eyes open or closed, with or without using foam rubber. We adopted 6 parameters: the movement velocity of the center of pressure, the envelopment area traced by the movement of the center of pressure with eyes closed/foam rubber, Romberg's ratios of velocity and area with foam rubber, and the foam ratios (the ratio of a parameter measured with and without foam rubber) of velocity and area with eyes closed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 6 parameters were significantly higher in the patients in the acute/subacute stage (<3 mo) than in the control subjects (p < 0.0001). Five parameters, excluding the foam ratio of the area with eyes closed, were still significantly higher in the patients at the chronic stage (>3 mo) than in the control subjects (p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Foam posturography is useful for assessing equilibrium even at the chronic stage after acute unilateral peripheral vestibulopathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan. cfujimoto-tky@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Chisato
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
authors.forename: Toshihisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murofushi
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugasawa
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chihara
authors.forename: Muentaka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ushio
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamasoba
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002150:Caloric Tests; D002908:Chronic Disease; D018450:Disease Progression; D004584:Electronystagmography; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006112:Gravitation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests / Q000379:methods*; D020338:Vestibular Neuronitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*