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Poster session 7: Ataxia, chorea, drug-induced movement disorders, myoclonus, spasticity, stereotypies, tics, tremor


Publisher
John Wiley and Sons
Year
2002
Tongue
English
Weight
491 KB
Volume
17
Category
Article
ISSN
0885-3185

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✦ Synopsis


Objective: Nigrostriatal dysfunction is a likely substrate for extrapyramidal features that occur in most spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA).

Methods: We evaluated striatal dopaminergic function in patients with SCA-2 using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and radioligands for dopamine transporter function (3I-2␤-carbomethyl-3␤-(4iodophenyl)-tropane, ␤-CIT) and dopamine D2 receptor status ( 123 I-iodobenzamide, IBZM). Age-matched healthy subjects and patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) served as controls.

Results: Clinically, cervical dystonia was present in 7 SCA2 patients including torticollis (n ϭ 6, associated with laterocollis in 2 of them) and dystonic head tremor (n ϭ 1). Striato-cerebellar (S/C) ratios of ␤-CIT binding were significantly reduced in SCA2 patients compared to control subjects and they were within the range of matched PD patients. S/C ratios of IBZM binding were significantly reduced in SCA2 patients compared with control and PD subjects.

Conclusions: We conclude that cervical dystonia is a frequent extrapyramidal feature in SCA2, likely reflecting the profound functional disturbance of dopaminergic neurotransmission that was observed both at preand at postsynaptic level.