title: Pathologic changes in the brain in cervical dystonia pre- and post-mortem - a commentary with a special focus on the cerebellum.
abstract: In a recent issue of Experimental Neurology, Prudente et al. (2012) investigated the neuropathology of cervical dystonia in six patients. Their most important finding was a patchy loss of cerebellar Purkinje cells in the cerebellum. In this article we discuss their findings in the context of a review including primary and secondary cervical dystonia. An update is given of the current knowledge on structural and functional brain abnormalities in idiopathic cervical dystonia with a special focus on the cerebellum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zoons
authors.forename: M A J
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Tijssen
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014103:Torticollis / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Cerebellum; Cervical dystonia; Imaging; Neuropathology