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Acute cerebellar ataxia - Overview

Alternative Names

Cerebellar ataxia; Ataxia - acute cerebellar; Cerebellitis

Definition of Acute cerebellar ataxia:

Acute cerebellar ataxia is sudden, uncoordinated muscle movement due to disease or injury to the cerebellum in the brain.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Acute cerebellar ataxia in children, especially those younger than age 3, may occur several weeks after an illness caused by a virus.

Viral infections that may cause this include chickenpox, Coxsackie disease, and echovirus.

Other causes of acute cerebellar ataxia include:

Alcohol, medications, and insecticides
Bleeding into the cerebellum
Infection or abscess of the cerebellum
Multiple sclerosis
Strokes of the cerebellum

Reviewed last on: 2/5/2011
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by Joseph V. Campellone, MD, Division of Neurology, Cooper University Hospital, Camden, NJ. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Johnston M. Movement disorders. In: Kliegman R, Behrman R, Jenson H, Stanton B, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 597.

Lublin FD, Miller AE. Multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system. In: Bradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel GM, Jankovic J, eds. Neurology in Clinical Practice. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Butterworth-Heinemann Elsevier; 2008:chap 58.

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