title: 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the lentiform nucleus in primary focal hand dystonia.
abstract: Several radiologic findings point toward the lentiform nucleus as a possible site of lesion in primary dystonia. Histologic examinations, however, have shown inconsistent results. 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has proved helpful to assess neuronal degeneration in a variety of basal ganglia disorders. MRS data of dystonia patients are, however, lacking so far. 1H-MRS centered on the lentiform nuclei was performed in 14 patients with primary focal hand dystonia and in 12 healthy control subjects using a 1.5-T MR imager. No statistically significant differences of N-acetylaspartate/creatine and lactate/creatine ratios were found between patients and control subjects. Based on these data, the authors found no evidence that primary focal dystonia was associated with a conspicuous loss of lentiform nucleus neurons or a marked disturbance of the aerobic metabolism, although minor abnormalities cannot be excluded because of the possibly limited sensitivity of the method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Bayerische Julius-Maximilians-Universität, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naumann
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Warmuth-Metz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hillerer
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Solymosi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reiners
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000473:pathology*; D004421:Dystonia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged