Dynamic posturography findings predict balance status in vestibular schwannoma patients

Objective: To test whether condition 5 score (C5S) and condition 6 score (C6S) of the sensory organization test of computerized dynamic platform posturography (CDPP) differ between vestibular schwannoma (VS) patients with and without vestibular symptoms. Study design: Retrospective review of prospectively collected data. Setting: Tertiary academic referral center. Patients: Two hundred and sixteen consecutive patients with a histological diagnosis of a VS (103 women; 113 men; age range, 18-78 years; median, 54 years) who had been preoperatively evaluated by CDPP. A hundred and twelve patients had a history of vertigo, dizziness, and/or imbalance, and 104 patients had neither present nor past vestibular symptoms at all. Intervention: Diagnostic. Preoperative CDPP in VS patients with and without vestibular symptoms. Main Outcome Measures: Condition 5 score and C6S of the sensory organization test of CDPP of VS patients. To test whether C5S and C6S differ between VS patients with and without vestibular symptoms, the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney rank sum test was applied. Results: Both C5S (p = 0.001) and C6S (p < 0.0005) were significantly lower in VS patients with vestibular symptoms than in VS patients without vestibular symptoms. Conclusion: There is a significant difference in the distribution of C5S and C6S between VS patients with and without vestibular symptoms. Thus, patients with symptoms tend to have lower C5S and C6S than patients without symptoms, although this trend is not sufficient for reliable discrimination for all patients.