Table 3.

Disease duration of cerebellar ataxia based on acuity of presentation

Cerebellar Ataxia Causes Based on Disease Duration
Acute	Vascular  Ischemia, hemorrhage, vascular malformation Demyelinating  Multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis Infectious  Viral cerebellitis: VZV, EBV, influenza, EV71, parvovirus B19, RSV  Bacterial: Listeria monocytogenes, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Borrelia burgdorferi, abscess  Fungal: Aspergillus, Histoplasmosis Parainfectious  Bacterial: Mycoplasma pneumoniae  Viral: measles, mumps, rubella, EBV, pertussis, rotavirus, coxsackie virus Toxic/metabolic  Antiepileptic drugs, chemotherapy, benzodiazepines, alcohol intoxication, heavy metals, lithium, Wernicke encephalopathy
Subacute	Immune-mediated  SLE, Sjögren syndrome, gluten ataxia, thyroid antibody mediated, GAD-65 antibody, Miller-Fisher syndrome Paraneoplastic  Anti-Hu, Yo, Ri, mGluR1, Ma, CRMP, VGKC antibodies Neoplastic-posterior fossa tumors  Children: medulloblastoma, astrocytomas, ependymoma, brainstem glioma  Adults: metastasis, hemangioblastoma, lymphoma Infectious  HIV, CJD, Whipple disease, JC virus/PML Toxic/metabolic  Vitamin deficiencies (B1, B12, E), hypothyroidism, hyperparathyroidism
Chronic	Neurodegenerative  Multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy (less commonly) Idiopathic late onset cerebellar ataxia Hereditary Toxic/metabolic  Heavy metals, solvents, phenytoin, alcohol Structural/Static  Dandy Walker cyst, hydrocephalus, Joubert syndrome, cerebral palsy, Arnold-Chiari malformation, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy

Abbreviations: CJD, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; EBV, Epstein-Barr virus; EV71, enterovirus 71; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; PML, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy; RSV, respiratory syncytial virus; VZV, varicella zoster virus.