title: Dopamine-responsive pattern in tremor patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diagnosis and treatment of tremor are largely based on clinical assessment. Whereas in some patients tremor may respond to dopaminergic treatment, in general l-Dopa response to tremor varies considerably. The aim of this study was to predict l-Dopa response by accelerometry.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included 60 tremor patients and measured harmonic oscillations by accelerometry. In addition to neurological assessment, we performed l-Dopa challenge tests and the individual tremor response was compared to the amount of harmonic oscillations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a strong correlation between harmonic oscillations and clinical l-Dopa response. Similarly, harmonic oscillations were significantly greater in patients with subjective tremor reduction upon l-Dopa administration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that harmonic oscillations are a measure for l-Dopa response to tremor irrespective of the underlying disease. Because of the observational character of the study, any causal relation remains speculative. Nevertheless, we propose a novel, non-invasive approach to predict l-Dopa response in tremor patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: lukas.imbach@usz.ch.
authors.forename: Lukas L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Imbach
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sommerauer
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, CH-8092, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Kaspar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Leuenberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sebastian R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Schreglmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mechtild
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uhl
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, CH-8092, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gassert
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 26, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christian R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Baumann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014202:Tremor / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D007980:Levodopa
keywords: Quantitative tremor analysis; Tremor; l-Dopa response