title: Reorganization of the human somatosensory cortex in hand dystonia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Abnormalities of finger representations in the somatosensory cortex have been identified in patients with focal hand dystonia. Measuring blood flow with positron emission tomography (PET) can be use to demonstrate functional localization of receptive fields.
  
  
  METHODS
  A vibratory stimulus was applied to the right thumb and little finger of six healthy volunteers and six patients with focal hand dystonia to map their receptive fields using H2 (15)O PET.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cortical finger representations in the primary somatosensory cortex were closer to each other in patients than in normal subjects. No abnormalities were found in secondary somatosensory cortex, but the somatotopy there is less well distinguished.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data confirm prior electrophysiological and functional neuroimaging observations showing abnormalities of finger representations in somatosensory cortex of patients with focal hand dystonia.
authors.affiliation: Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892 USA.
authors.forename: Maria Jose
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Catalan
authors.affiliation: Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892 USA.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.affiliation: Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892 USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bara-Jimenez
authors.affiliation: Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892 USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hallett
keywords: Cortical representation; Dystonia; Positron emission tomography; Receptive field; Somatosensory cortex