title: A diffusion tensor imaging study in essential tremor.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Essential tremor (ET) is suggested to be a neural degenerative disease. The authors investigated the fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value in basal ganglia, thalamus, red nucleus, and substantia nigra in ET patients using diffusion tensor image (DTI).
  
  
  METHODS
  DTI examination was carried out in patients with ET and controls. FA and ADC values were obtained from various brain structures, including caudate, putamen+pallidum, thalamus, red nucleus, and substantia nigra.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ADC value of the red nuclei in patients with ET was higher compared with controls (.90 vs .77; P= .000). However, no significant differences were demonstrated for FA, or ADC values of other structures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The increased ADC value in the red nucleus indicates that there is neuronal damage or loss present, suggesting that ET may be a neurodegenerative disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200127, China.
authors.forename: Liu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Shen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jia-Lin
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qing
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged