Abnormal cerebral activation associated with a motor task in Tourette syndrome. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 1998 Sep;19(8):1509-12
Date
10/08/1998Pubmed ID
9763386Pubmed Central ID
PMC8338689Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0032231694 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 86 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, PET scanning and EEG suggest an abnormal organization of the sensorimotor cortex and basal ganglia. The purpose of this study was to use functional MR imaging to study activation in the sensorimotor cortex in patients with Tourette syndrome.
METHODS: From echo-planar images acquired during intermittent performance of a finger-tapping task, the location of activated pixels was determined by means of conventional signal processing methods. In five patients with Tourette syndrome and five healthy volunteers, the number of activated pixels in the sensorimotor cortices and supplementary motor areas were counted. The area over which the activation was distributed was calculated.
RESULTS: In the five patients, the average number of pixels activated during the finger-tapping task in the sensorimoter cortices and supplementary motor area (69.4 pixels) exceeded that in the volunteers (49.2 pixels). The difference was significant. The area over which the pixels was distributed was significantly larger (25.4 vs 13.8 cm2).
CONCLUSION: Motor function is organized differently in patients with Tourette syndrome than in healthy subjects.
Author List
Biswal B, Ulmer JL, Krippendorf RL, Harsch HH, Daniels DL, Hyde JS, Haughton VMAuthor
Harold H. Harsch MD Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAdult
Arousal
Diseases in Twins
Echo-Planar Imaging
Female
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Motor Activity
Motor Cortex
Somatosensory Cortex
Tourette Syndrome
