title: Central motor conduction in cervical dystonia with cervical spondylotic myelopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It has been known that cervical dystonia develops secondarily to spinal cord injuries as secondary dystonia. However, little is known about the pathophysiological mechanism.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined motor and sensory conduction in six patients with symptomatic cervical dystonia by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). All of the patients exhibited unilateral head rotation. They had symptoms corresponding to cervical myelopathy and felt discomfort in the neck, shoulders or arms before involuntary movement occurred.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the overall central motor conduction time (CMCT) was not different from that of normal controls, contralateral CMCT was significantly delayed compared to ipsilateral CMCT (p<0.05). The results of somatosensory evoked potential study demonstrated that contralateral central conduction time (CCT) was not significantly different from ipsilateral CCT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that there is a selective interference with the contralateral corticospinal tract in patients with symptomatic cervical dystonia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Bioregulatory Sciences, University of Tokushima Graduate School of Medicine, 3-18-15 Kuramoto-cho, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hiasa
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mitsui
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kunishige
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oshima
authors.forename: Toshio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000294:innervation*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology*; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology*; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000503:physiopathology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000503:physiopathology; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013130:Spinal Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014103:Torticollis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation