title: Palatal myoclonus--its remote influence.
abstract: Four patients with palatal myoclonus were examined electromyographically. Surface EMG was recorded simultaneously from several myoclonic muscles and the correlation between their rhythmic discharges was shown. The possible existence of a remote influence of palatal myoclonus was tested by recording soleus and anterior tibial H-reflexes and seeking a correlation of their amplitudes with the rhythm of palatal myoclonus. Two cases, both with additional severe spasticity in the legs, showed rhythmic variation of the soleus H-reflex amplitude corresponding with that of their palatal myoclonus. This suggests that the neural mechanism generating the visible myoclonus has much more extensive effects.
mesh_terms: D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000098:blood supply; D002526:Cerebellar Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000503:physiopathology; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006181:H-Reflex; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009132:Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009207:Myoclonus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009410:Nerve Degeneration; D010156:Palatal Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010609:Pharyngeal Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology