Electrophysiologic characteristics of tremor in Parkinson's disease and essential tremor.
Tremor in essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson's disease (PD) usually present specific electrophysiologic profiles, however amplitude and frequency may have wide variations.


OBJECTIVE
To present the electrophysiologic findings in PD and ET.


METHODS
Patients were assessed at rest, with posture and action. Seventeen patients with ET and 62 with PD were included. PD cases were clustered into three groups: predominant rest tremor; tremor with similar intensity at rest, posture and during kinetic task; and predominant kinetic tremor.


RESULTS
Patients with PD presented tremors with average frequency of 5.29±1.18 Hz at rest, 5.79±1.39 Hz with posture and 6.48±1.34 Hz with the kinetic task. Tremor in ET presented with an average frequency of 5.97±1.1 Hz at rest, 6.18±1 Hz with posture and 6.53±1.2 Hz with kinetic task. Seven (41.2%) also showed rest tremor.


CONCLUSIONS
The tremor analysis alone using the methodology described here, is not sufficient to differentiate tremor in ET and PD.
Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Ederson
E
Cichaczewski
Associação Paranaense dos Portadores de Parkinsonismo, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Renato P
RP
Munhoz
Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Joaquim M
JM
Maia
Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Percy
P
Nohama
Departamento de Neurologia, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Hospital de Clínicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Edison M
EM
Nóvak
Departamento de Neurologia, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Hospital de Clínicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Helio A
HA
Teive
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007697:Kinesics; D008297:Male; D008488:Medical Illustration; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors; D014202:Tremor / Q000503:physiopathology