title: Therapeutic benefit of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for severe mirror movements: A case report.
abstract: Congenital mirror movements retard typical hand functions, but no definite therapeutic modality is available to treat such movements. We report an 8-year-old boy with severe mirror movements of both hands. His mirror movements were assessed using the Woods and Teuber grading scale and his fine motor skills were also evaluated by the Purdue Pegboard Test. A 2-week regimen of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation produced markedly diminished mirror movement symptoms and increased the fine motor skills of both hands. Two weeks after the completion of the regimen, mirror movement grades had improved from grade 4 to 1 in both hands and the Purdue Pegboard Test results of the right and left hands also improved from 12 to 14 or 13. These improvements were maintained for 1 month after the 2-week repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation regimen. After 18 months, the mirror movement grade was maintained and the Purdue Pegboard test score had improved to 15 for the right hand while the left hand score was maintained at 13. This occurred without any additional repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation or other treatment. These findings suggest that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for this patient had a therapeutic and long-term effect on mirror movements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu 705-717, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Han Sun
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu 705-717, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu 705-717, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Zee-Ihn
authors.initials: ZI
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Daegu Fatima Hospital, Daegu 701-600, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Mi Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu 705-717, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yun Woo
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical therapy, College of Health and Therapy, Daegu Haany University, Gyeongsan 712-751, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Migyoung
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kweon
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu 705-717, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Su Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Son
keywords: Purdue Pegboard test; clinical practice; cortex suppression; corticospinal tract; grants-supported paper; hand; hand function; mirror movements; neural regeneration; neuroregeneration; neurorehabilitation; transcranial magnetic stimulation