EVestG: a diagnostic measure for schizophrenia

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2008:2008:4142-5. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2008.4650121.

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness associated with multiple neuropathological, neurochemical and genetic abnormalities. The benefits of a validated, quantitative diagnosis tool are well established. Electrovestibulography, a new method similar to ECOG, can detect and record neural activity generated by the vestibular system. The normal EVestG response as well as dynamic measures averaged 'background-onAA' (onAA=acceleration phase of tilt) and 'background-onBB' (onBB=deceleration phase of tilt) of excitatory (ipsi-lateral tilt) vestibular responses are compared for a small group of schizophrenia patients (n=4) and age matched healthy controls (n=10). Our preliminary results show an apparent discrimination between control and schizophrenia groups. Schizophrenia patients appear not only to exhibit an overall decreased EVestG signal amplitude but a suppressed dynamic response calculated by the averaged EVestG 'background-onBB' measure. Increased sample size is required to validate these findings.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Algorithms
  • Brain / pathology
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Motion
  • Prognosis
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Schizophrenia / diagnosis*
  • Schizophrenia / physiopathology*
  • Time Factors
  • Vestibular Nuclei / anatomy & histology