Abstract
BackgroundIdiopathic cervical dystonia is characterized by involuntary spasms, tremors or jerks. It is not restricted to a disturbance in the basal ganglia system because non-conventional voxel-based MRI morphometry (VBM) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have detected numerous regional changes in the brains of patients.In this study scans of 24 patients with cervical dystonia and 24 age-and sex-matched controls were analysed using VBM, DTI and magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) using a voxel-based approach and a region-of-interest analysis. Results were correlated with UDRS, TWSTRS and disease duration.ResultsWe found structural alterations in the basal ganglia; thalamus; motor cortex; premotor cortex; frontal, temporal and parietal cortices; visual system; cerebellum and brainstem of the patients with dystonia.ConclusionsCervical dystonia is a multisystem disease involving several networks such as the motor, sensory and visual systems.
Highlights
Idiopathic cervical dystonia is characterized by involuntary spasms, tremors or jerks
Idiopathic cervical dystonia, the most common form of focal dystonia [1], is characterized by involuntary posturing of the head caused by involuntary spasms, tremors or jerks, and it is frequently accompanied by neck pain
The present study provides evidence that dystonia is a complex disturbance of neuronal circuits involving the basal ganglia, thalamus, motor cortex, premotor area and visual and frontal cortices
Summary
Idiopathic cervical dystonia is characterized by involuntary spasms, tremors or jerks. In this study scans of 24 patients with cervical dystonia and 24 age-and sex-matched controls were analysed using VBM, DTI and magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) using a voxel-based approach and a region-of-interest analysis. Idiopathic cervical dystonia, the most common form of focal dystonia [1], is characterized by involuntary posturing of the head caused by involuntary spasms, tremors or jerks, and it is frequently accompanied by neck pain. 5 studies have used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) as a fully automated, operator-independent, wholebrain image analysis technique to evaluate cervical dystonia. They revealed an increase in grey matter volume in the internal globus pallidus, thalamus, cerebellum, motor cortex and supplementary motor area. The results are conflicting because a decrease in grey matter was observed in the putamen, supplementary motor area, right visual cortex and right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex [3,4,5,6]
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