Prospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Nov 24, 2020; 11(11): 945-958
Published online Nov 24, 2020. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v11.i11.945
Functional Gait Assessment scale in the rehabilitation of patients after vestibular tumor surgery in an acute hospital
Natasa Kos, Marusa Brcar, Tomaz Velnar
Natasa Kos, Marusa Brcar, Department of Medical Rehabilitation, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia
Tomaz Velnar, Department of Neurosurgery, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia
Author contributions: Kos N drafted the manuscript, assisted with data analysis, and performed the statistical analysis; Brcar M participated in the design of the study, was involved in data collection, and assisted with data analysis; Velnar T participated in design and oversight of the study; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the National Medical Ethics Committee, No. KME 71/02/15.
Clinical trial registration statement: This study is registered at the Commission of The Republic of Slovenia For Medical Ethics. The registration identification number is KME 71/02/15.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors of this manuscript have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: There are no additional data available.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tomaz Velnar, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Doctor, Department of Neurosurgery, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Zaloska 7, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia. tvelnar@hotmail.com
Received: May 8, 2020
Peer-review started: May 8, 2020
First decision: July 25, 2020
Revised: August 30, 2020
Accepted: September 22, 2020
Article in press: September 22, 2020
Published online: November 24, 2020
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Patients in the acute phase of rehabilitation after vestibular tumor surgery are dysfunctional in basic daily activities. Balance, gait impairments, and falls are prevalent with vestibular loss.

AIM

To determine the degree of balance disorders after vestibular tumor surgery, the susceptibility to falls and to assess motor tasks using the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) scale for functional gait, as part of the vestibular rehabilitation program during hospital stay.

METHODS

Patients who achieved a score higher than 25 points on the Mini-Mental State Examination and higher than 8 points on the Barthel index were included in the study. They were evaluated with the Berg Balance Scale the second day after surgery, during their hospital stay, at discharge, and three months after surgery. Throughout their hospitalization, patients took part in the vestibular rehabilitation program, focusing on multiple motor tasks included in the FGA.

RESULTS

All patients progressed clinically and statistically significant differences in functional activities of daily living were observed during hospitalization, before discharge to the home environment (median = 11; P = 0.0059) and three months after vestibular tumor surgery (median = 8; P = 0.0058). After discharge from hospital, four patients were at risk of falls, and two patients were at risk at three months.

CONCLUSION

Our study showed a positive effect of the use of FGA tasks as part of a rehabilitation program on functional activities of daily living in patients after vestibular tumor surgery. Nevertheless, we suggest further research to include a larger sample and a control group to overcome the deficiencies of our study.

Keywords: Vestibular tumor, Surgery, Assessment, Balance, Gait

Core Tip: This was a prospective pilot study of 10 patients who had problems with balance after surgical removal of a tumor from the cerebellopontine angle of the brain with the aim of using multitasking Functional Gait Assessment exercises as part of vestibular rehabilitation strategies for targeting better recovery and improvement of balance.