Brief Communication

Basal ganglia activity remains elevated after movement in focal hand dystonia

  1. Anne J. Blood PhD1,2,3,*,
  2. Alice W. Flaherty MD, PhD1,2,3,
  3. Ji-Kyung Choi PhD2,3,4,
  4. Fred H. Hochberg MD1,3,
  5. Douglas N. Greve PhD2,3,4,
  6. Giorgio Bonmassar PhD2,3,4,
  7. Bruce R. Rosen MD, PhD2,3,4,
  8. Bruce G. Jenkins PhD2,3,4

Article first published online: 26 APR 2004

DOI: 10.1002/ana.20108

Issue

Annals of Neurology

Annals of Neurology

Volume 55, Issue 5, pages 744–748, May 2004

Additional Information

How to Cite

Blood, A. J., Flaherty, A. W., Choi, J.-K., Hochberg, F. H., Greve, D. N., Bonmassar, G., Rosen, B. R. and Jenkins, B. G. (2004), Basal ganglia activity remains elevated after movement in focal hand dystonia. Ann Neurol., 55: 744–748. doi: 10.1002/ana.20108

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA

  2. 2

    Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA

  3. 3

    Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

  4. 4

    Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA

*Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 26 APR 2004
  2. Article first published online: 26 APR 2004
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 4 MAR 2004
  4. Manuscript Revised: 3 MAR 2004
  5. Manuscript Received: 22 JAN 2004

Funded by

  • NIH (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Career Development Award. Grant Number: K08 NS02067-01
  • Blowitz Ridgeway Foundation
  • Mental Illness and Neuroscience Discovery (MIND) Institute
  • National Center for Research Resources. Grant Numbers: P41-RR14075, NCRR BIRN Morphometric Project BIRN002
  • National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Grant Number: 1RO1 EB002459-01

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (866K)

Abstract

Although previous studies of focal hand dystonia have detected cortical sensorimotor abnormalities, little is known about the role of the basal ganglia in this disorder. We report here that when focal hand dystonic patients performed finger-tapping tasks, functional magnetic resonance imaging showed persisting elevations of basal ganglia activity after the tasks ended. We posit that inhibitory control of the basal ganglia may be faulty in focal hand dystonia, and that the increases we observe in “resting” activity may mask basal ganglia abnormalities in standard imaging contrast analyses.

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (866K)