Background and purpose: This study aimed to quantitatively evaluate balance disturbances by means of static posturography in patients with enlargement of the ventricular system (Evans ratio > 0.3).
Material and methods: Fifty-four patients were diagnosed and treated in our Department of Neurosurgery. Thirty-six of them were qualified as patients with brain atrophy and 18 others were identified as patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). Average sway radius and developed area of the posturogram were evaluated with eyes open and closed. These parameters constituted a base to calculate vision indices related to radius and area as a result of division of the difference of a given parameter (radius or area) measured with eyes closed and open by its corresponding sum.
Results: The sway range was significantly greater in patients with NPH in comparison to the control group. In NPH, there were no differences of sways observed with eyes open or closed - the vision indices were not statistically different from zero (vision index related to radius: -6.1 ± 18.9%, vision index related to area: -5.1 ± 34.7%). This may indicate no participation of sight in postural stability control. Values of the vision index related to radius (9.3 ± 19.4%) and to area (22.1 ± 28.2%) in the atrophy group significantly differed from zero, which indicated the participation of sight in postural stability control.
Conclusions: Introduction of a new measure called the 'vision index' seems to be a promising clinical practice method of differentiation of hydrocephalus and brain atrophy.