What Is Acute Ataxia?

Acute cerebellar ataxia is a unique syndrome. The prognosis is usually good, and it can recover completely. Its etiology is unknown and may be related to viruses and other infections. Approximately 50% of clinical cases have a viral infection before ataxia occurs. The most common precursor is chickenpox, followed by enteroviruses and poliovirus infections. Some cases are related to infections such as measles, rubella, mumps and adenovirus.

Acute cerebellar ataxia

Acute cerebellar ataxia is a unique syndrome. The prognosis is usually good, and it can recover completely. Its etiology is unknown and may be related to viruses and other infections. Approximately 50% of clinical cases have a viral infection before ataxia occurs. The most common precursor is chickenpox, followed by enteroviruses and poliovirus infections. Some cases are related to infections such as measles, rubella, mumps and adenovirus.

Approximately half of the patients had prodromal infections 2-3 weeks before the illness, with symptoms such as fever, upper respiratory tract infections, diarrhea and rash. Ataxia occurred during the recovery process. Some have no symptoms of precursor infection, and appear ataxia on the basis of complete health. Ataxia mostly starts from the trunk and lower limbs, and gradually develops into the upper limbs and the whole body. It peaks 3-5 days after the illness, and most of them have no convulsions and coma. Generally speaking, the trunk is more severe than the limbs, the lower limbs are more severe than the upper limbs, walking is unstable, the gait is faltering, and the body is swinging from side to side. In severe cases, you cannot walk, stand, or even sit alone. At the same time accompanied by poetic language, obvious nystagmus. Symptoms may last for more than 2 months. The mild ones recover within 1-2 weeks, and the slow wave increases in the occipital region after the EEG in the acute phase. Cranial CT scans were normal, and only some patients had low-density focus in the cerebellar hemisphere. MRI examination, cerebellar hemisphere may have demyelinating changes.

For those who have a clear cause, give the cause and symptomatic treatment. Those without obvious cause can be treated as sporadic encephalitis.