Abnormal cerebral activation associated with a motor task in Tourette syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
In Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, PET scanning and EEG suggest an abnormal organization of the sensorimotor cortex and basal ganglia. The purpose of this study was to use functional MR imaging to study activation in the sensorimotor cortex in patients with Tourette syndrome.


METHODS
From echo-planar images acquired during intermittent performance of a finger-tapping task, the location of activated pixels was determined by means of conventional signal processing methods. In five patients with Tourette syndrome and five healthy volunteers, the number of activated pixels in the sensorimotor cortices and supplementary motor areas were counted. The area over which the activation was distributed was calculated.


RESULTS
In the five patients, the average number of pixels activated during the finger-tapping task in the sensorimoter cortices and supplementary motor area (69.4 pixels) exceeded that in the volunteers (49.2 pixels). The difference was significant. The area over which the pixels was distributed was significantly larger (25.4 vs 13.8 cm2).


CONCLUSIONS
Motor function is organized differently in patients with Tourette syndrome than in healthy subjects.
Biswal
B
B
Department of Biophysics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226, USA.
Ulmer
J L
JL
Krippendorf
R L
RL
Harsch
H H
HH
Daniels
D L
DL
Hyde
J S
JS
Haughton
V M
VM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004200:Diseases in Twins; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005879:Tourette Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology