title: Deterioration of horizontal saccades in progressive supranuclear palsy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate horizontal saccade changes according to disease stage in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied visually and memory guided saccades (VGS and MGS) in 36 PSP patients at various disease stages, and compared results with those in 66 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and 58 age-matched normal controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both vertical and horizontal saccades were affected in PSP patients, usually manifesting as "slow saccades" but sometimes as a sequence of small amplitude saccades with relatively well preserved velocities. Disease progression caused saccade amplitude reduction in PSP but not PD patients. In contrast, VGS and MGS latencies were comparable between PSP and PD patients, as were the frequencies of saccades to cue, suggesting that voluntary initiation and inhibitory control of saccades are similar in both disorders. Hypermetria was rarely observed in PSP patients with cerebellar ataxia (PSPc patients).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The progressively reduced accuracy of horizontal saccades in PSP suggests a brainstem oculomotor pathology that includes the superior colliculus and/or paramedian pontine reticular formation. In contrast, the functioning of the oculomotor system above the brainstem was similar between PSP and PD patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings may reflect a brainstem oculomotor pathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. yterao-tky@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Terao
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shirota
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yugeta
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Ritsuko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hanajima
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Segawa
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ugawa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D013494:Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology