title: Pathological crying induced by deep brain stimulation.
abstract: Pathological crying (PLC)--an affective gesture without any or an adequate emotion--occurs with various diseases. A recent theory suggests that PLC is caused by a disruption of higher order cortical association areas from the cerebellum which computes profiles of psychomotor responses. We report a patient with Parkinson's disease who developed PLC during stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) predominantly of the right hemisphere. Positron emission tomography imaging showed thalamo-ponto-cerebellar activation during such stimulation. These findings indicate that the STN and possibly also ponto-cerebellar pathways are involved in psychomotor control and in the modulation of PLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wojtecki
authors.forename: Janpeter
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nickel
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Timmermann
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maarouf
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Südmeyer
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Rüdiger J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Seitz
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Voges
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sturm
authors.forename: Alfons
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schnitzler
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000209:etiology*; D003448:Crying; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000628:therapy*