The Three Cornerstones of Cerebellar Ataxia: Closing the Loop of 200 Years of Cerebellar Research

Introductory Chapter: Insights into Ataxia

“…Patients may present atypically and with multiple causes that may exist simultaneously. This contributes to the important clinical heterogeneity of ataxic disorders in daily practice [8].…”

“…While insults within the vermis lead to postural gait ataxia with limb preservation. Lesions in the vestibulocerebellar areas cause gait imbalance, vertigo, and ataxia [8][9][10].…”

“…2. Vestibulocerebellar Syndrome when injuries occur in the vestibular nuclei that are connected to lobes IX-X and the dorsal oculomotor vermis corresponding to lobes V-VII are affected in these cases and is characterized by various combinations of dysmetria, saccadic pursuit, nystagmus, impaired vestibulo-ocular vision, oblique gaze deviation [8,11,12].…”

“…The ataxic diseases can generally be the result of a considerable variability of causes, and there can be numerous etiologies for ataxias, which can occur isolated or simultaneously, acutely or chronically, and at any age, both in children and in adults and even common in the elderly [6][7][8][9][10].…”