Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional
Official Title: Assessment of the Preoperative Vestibular Rehabilitation Effectiveness on Balance Control Compensation After Vestibular Schwannoma Surgery
Brief Summary:
Vestibular schwannoma (VS) is a benign tumour from Schwann cells surrounding the vestibular nerve, which slowly grows within the internal auditory canal and then into the cerebellopontine angle, leading to a gradual vestibular dysfunction. The slowly progressive alteration of vestibular function allows the gradual implementation of central adaptive mechanisms called vestibular compensation. The total unilateral vestibular deafferentation induced by the surgical tumour removal suddenly leads to a decompensation of this previously compensated situation, which explains why most patients report severe vertigo immediately after surgery and which is responsible for perturbations of the postural control (Parietti-Winkler et al., 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011). Recently, Gauchard et al. (2013) suggested that preoperative and regular physical activity would limit the adverse effects of surgical removal on balance control. Also, patients benefited faster and better from the postoperative vestibular rehabilitation.
Thus, preoperative vestibular rehabilitation, including physical and balance exercises, could help to limit postoperative balance disorders and promote postoperative balance compensation. This could lead to a decrease in the duration and cost of the postoperative management and faster improvement of quality of life.