How to Check for NPC

The following tools and resources aim to support healthcare professionals to understand more about NPC, the key symptoms of NPC and how to check for eye movement abnormalities so suspected patients can be referred on to a specialist centre for diagnostic testing.

How to check for eye movement abnormalities

Vertical supranuclear gaze palsy (VSGP) is a typical symptom of NPC and is present in virtually all patients with NPC. It often goes undetected, despite it being simple to detect by testing for impairment of voluntary saccades, which is an early sign of NPC. All healthcare professional specialties that might see a patient with NPC and see one or more of the symptoms listed in the Key symptoms of NPC table should check for eye movement abnormalities. For additional support on how to perform an eye examination please visit www.NeurOcular.com for step-by-step video guidance.

Two step process to test for VSGP:

1. To assess the smooth pursuit, patients should be tested for their ability to follow an object
2. To assess the vertical saccades the physicians will ask the patient to spontaneously move their gaze up and down without following an object (ask to look between two points fixed by the upper part of their head and at chest level)

How to check for VSGP – Download Here 

Educational slide set for healthcare professionals

This slide set aims to support healthcare professionals to recognise the signs and symptoms of NPC. Feel free to download this slide set for your own information and to present to other healthcare professionals at appropriate meetings or confer

Download the slideset

Tools to aid suspicion of NPC

The following tools can support healthcare professionals to suspect NPC by linking key presenting symptoms together.

• NPC Suspicion Index– NPC-SI.com
  A simple screening tool that has been developed in collaboration with a group of international experts in the field of NPC. It aims to enhance the detection of NPC among patients suspected of having the condition in order to establish an earlier diagnosis.
• FindZebra – http://www.findzebra.com/
  A specialised search engine supporting healthcare professionals to understand possible diagnoses for difficult patient cases by typing in the symptoms that a patient presents with.