Acute Ataxia in the ED

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

5:10pm – 5:30pm ET

Location: Trade - Lobby Level

CE: 0.25 CME Credit

Speaker(s)

Christina M. Powell, DO FAAEM (she/her/hers)

Emergency Medicine Physician
USN
Newport, North Carolina

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

Session Moderator(s)

Matthew Graber, MD, PhD, FAAEM

Residency Program Director
Abrazo Health
Goodyear, Arizona

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

Disclosure(s):

Christina M. Powell, DO FAAEM: No financial relationships to disclose

“Dizziness” and “unsteadiness” are daunting complaints in the ED. An acute change in gait or coordination can represent a wide range of disease processes that can be difficult to quickly tease apart. This lecture will help identify the temporal relationship of symptom progression, as well as relevant questions and physical exam findings in order to rapidly differentiate emergent and reversible causes of acute ataxia. Learn to separate the differential, focusing on the acute intervenable causes. The goal is to help the physician quickly identify life-threatening and disabling causes of acute ataxia.

Learning Objectives:

After this session, the learner will be able to identify acute ataxia by age of onset and rate of progression.
After this session, the learner will be able to apply specific questions and physical examination tests to aid the diagnostic approach towards the complaint of acute ataxia.
After this session, the learner will be able to identify specific forms of acute ataxia, focusing on acute reversible causes.