Development of vestibular ocular reflex and gross motor function in infants with common cavity deformity as a type of inner ear malformation

Abstract

Background： The function of common cavity deformity demonstrated by temporal bone CT and MRI has been unknown.

Aim/Objective: To investigate the developmental changes of vestibular ocular reflex and acquisition of postural control in infants with common cavity deformity.

Material and methods: Eight infants who were congenitally deaf complicated by common cavity deformity were studied. The damped rotational chair test was carried out to evaluate vestibular ocular reflex. Acquisition of head control and independent walking in these infants was compared with that in normal infant’s milestones of gross motor development.

Results: All of the eight infants with common cavity deformity did not show per-rotatory nystagmus in the damped rotational chair test around the first year of life. However, a normal number of beats and a longer duration of per-rotatory nystagmus for their age were recorded at around three or four years of age.

Conclusions and significance: In the eight infants with common cavity deformity, vestibular ocular reflex was not present around the first year of life, but appeared after three or four years probably because of some vestibular sensory cells. Head control and independent walking were delayed but eventually acquired by the central vestibular compensation.

Chinese abstract

背景：颞骨CT和MRI显示的共腔畸形的功能尚不清楚。

目的：探讨共腔畸形患儿前庭眼反射的发育变化及体姿控制的获得。

材料和方法：研究了8例共腔畸形并发先天性耳聋的婴儿。进行了阻尼旋转椅测试以评估前庭眼反射。将这些婴儿的头部控制和独立行走的获得与正常婴儿的动作发育阶段进行比较。

结果：所有8名患有共同腔畸形的一岁左右的婴儿在阻尼旋转椅测试中均未表现出旋转性眼球震颤。然而, 在大约三或四岁时记录到了正常搏动量和比这个年龄段更长的旋转性眼球震颤持续时间。

结论和意义：对于8例共腔畸形的婴儿, 一岁左右时, 前庭眼反射还没有出现, 但在三四年后会出现 , 可能是由于一些前庭感觉细胞的存在。头部控制和独立行走推迟了, 但最终通过中央补偿而获得。

Keywords:

• Inner ear malformation
• common cavity deformity
• gross motor development
• damped rotational chair test
• vestibular ocular reflex

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), No.17K11348.

We thank Ms. Kayoko Sekiguchi for her secretarial assistance. This material was presented at Collegium Beijing 2018, Poster Session on 78.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.