Balance Disorders in Children and Adolescents
A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Child Neurology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2022) | Viewed by 17559
Special Issue Editors
2. Pediatric Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery Unit, Children Hospital—ASST Spedali Civili of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy
Interests: otology; head neck surgery; hearing disorder; pediatric otolaryngology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Balance disorders, at any stage of a child’s neurodevelopment, can be very debilitating, worsening their basic daily activities leading to self-isolation and the avoidance of normal recreational activities, with emotional, affective, physiological, and behavioral impairment, which could be permanent, sometimes influencing the whole future relationship to life. The prevalence data of the different forms of vertigo present in the scientific literature are highly variable. Vertigo may result from abnormalities of the labyrinth system or the central nervous system that spans from the vestibular nerve to the brainstem and cerebellum. When this symptomatology appears in children it is a cause for concern, both for parents and health professionals. Posterior fossa intracranial tumors are often considered in the differential diagnosis, but such serious causes are fortunately rare.
As with any dysfunction, the key to correct diagnosis is performing a complete history, physical examination, and further testing based on clinical indications. Obtaining an accurate history in young children may be difficult because of reduced communication skills of the child, their easy distraction and their inability to distinguish vertigo from fear. On the other hand, the parents may distort the situation according to their interpretation and concerns. The diagnostic work-up of balance diseases in pediatrics strongly depends on the age of the subject. Lack of knowledge about causes and the prevalence of balance disorders in children, their correlation with age and gender, and correct diagnostic work-up often leads to inappropriate, invasive, or expensive exams (i.e., CT or RMN), with no useful contribution to a proper therapeutic management. A correct diagnosis not only obviates unnecessary investigations and alleviates parental worries, but is also the prerequisite for successful therapy. The careful clinical examination of oculomotor and vestibular function is the key step on the way to diagnosis.
The general pediatrician, neuro-pediatrician, and neuro-otologist should be aware of the full spectrum of disorders in order to reach a correct diagnosis, leading to prompt and effective treatment.
The goal of this Special Issue is to highlight the current state of research on balance disorders in childhood, and we invite authors to submit manuscripts on all related topics.
Prof. Dr. Luca Redaelli de Zinis
Dr. Cristiano Balzanelli
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Child/children
- Childhood
- Adolescent
- Vertigo
- Dizziness
- Motion sickness
- Imbalance
- Peripheral vertigo
- Central vertigo
- Chronic vertigo
- Balance
- Vestibular
- Nervous system
- Neuro-otology
- Differential diagnosis
- Bedside evaluation
- Video head impulse test/VHIT
- Rotatory test
- Caloric tests
- Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials/VEMPS
- Ocular VEMPS
- Cervical VEMPS
- Vestibular migraine
- Vestibular paroxysmia
