Truncal ataxia (or trunk ataxia) is a wide-based "drunken sailor" gait characterised by uncertain starts and stops, lateral deviations and unequal steps. It is an instability of the trunk and often seen during sitting. It is most visible when shifting position or walking heel-to-toe.
|Other names||Trunk ataxia, Ataxic gait|
|Caused by midline damage to the cerebellar vermis|
|Symptoms||"drunken sailor" gait characterised by uncertain starts and stops, falling|
Truncal ataxia is different from appendicular ataxia. Appendicular ataxia affects the movements of the arms and legs. It is caused by lesions of the cerebellar hemispheres.
Truncal ataxia is caused by midline damage to the cerebellar vermis. There are at least 34 conditions that cause truncal ataxia.
- Ataxia oculomotor apraxia type 1
- Branchial myoclonus
- Christianson syndrome
- Dandy-Walker syndrome
- Dysequilibrium syndrome
- Episodic ataxia
- Post viral cerebellar ataxia
- Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome
- Machado–Joseph disease
- N-acetylaspartate deficiency
- Neuhauser Eichner Opitz syndrome
- Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration
- Rett syndrome
- Spinocerebellar ataxia
- Vertebral dissection
- Dennis, Mark; Bowen, William Talbot; Cho, Lucy (2012-01-27). Mechanisms of Clinical Signs - E-Book. pp. 280–281. ISBN 9780729580755.
- "NCBI Truncal ataxia". NCBI. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
- Blumenfeld H (2002). Neuroanatomy through clinical cases. Sunderland, Mass: Sinauer. pp. 670–671. ISBN 0-87893-060-4.
- "human phenotype ontology". Retrieved March 17, 2019.