• Cécile Parietti-Winkler, Gérome C Gauchard, Claude Simon, and Philippe P Perrin.
• Inserm U 954, Thematic group Neurodegenerative Diseases, Neuroplasticity, Cognition, Faculty of Medicine, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, Nancy-University, UFR STAPS, Balance Control and Motor Performance, Villers-lès-Nancy, France.
• J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr.. 2010 Aug 1;81(8):934-6.

AbstractThe time-course of central adaptive mechanisms after vestibular schwannoma surgical removal allows, 3 months after surgery (middle term), a satisfactory recovery of balance control. However, the long-term evolution of postural control beyond the end of usual medical follow-up remains unknown. This longitudinal prospective study aimed to assess the long-term effects of vestibular compensation on balance control and sensory organisation in patients operated on for vestibular schwannoma. Thirty-six patients with vestibular schwannoma underwent vestibular and sensory organisation tests, shortly before and 3 months, 6 months and 1 year after surgery. Postural control performances improved 3 months after surgery compared with before surgery; they continued to improve at 6 and 12 months after surgery, especially in conditions highly soliciting vestibular information. In the long term, strategies based on sensorimotor and/or behavioural substitution seem to be reinforced and fine-tuned, particularly in complex postural situations, for which only vestibular information is reliable to control balance.

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