Abnormal increase in the corticomotor output to the affected hand during repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the primary motor cortex in patients with writer's cramp

Abstract

In fourteen right-handed patients with writer's cramp and 10 right-handed controls, 10 trains of suprathreshold 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) were applied over the left primary motor hand area. Each rTMS train lasted for a minute with an intertrain interval of 10 s. The motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the relaxed contralateral first dorsal interosseus muscle. The mean MEP area of each rTMS train was taken as a measure of the corticospinal motor output to the affected hand. While the mean MEP area decreased significantly in controls, patients showed a significant increase in mean MEP area during rTMS. The differential effect on MEP size was highly significant. The abnormal rTMS-associated facilitation of the corticomotor output to the affected hand demonstrates an increased excitability of the corticospinal motor system in writer's cramp.