Premium
Dynamic properties of horizontal and vertical eye movements in parkinsonian syndromes
Author(s) -
Rottach Klaus G.,
Riley David E.,
DiScenna Alfred O.,
Zivotofsky Ari Z.,
Leigh R. John
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410390314
Subject(s) - eye movement , horizontal and vertical , psychology , physical medicine and rehabilitation , neuroscience , medicine , cognitive psychology , geology , geodesy
Abstract We studied dynamic properties of horizontal, vertical, and oblique eye movements in 23 patients with the following parkinsonian syndromes: idiopathie parkinsonism (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA), pure akinesia (PA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and cortical‐basal ganglionic degeneration (CBGD). Compared with age‐matched controls, only PSP patients showed slowing of saccades. Patients in all groups showed saccadic hypometria that was most marked vertically. The trajectories of saccades made to diagonal target jumps were deviated toward the horizonal plane, due to the vertical hypometria; this was most marked in PA and PSP groups. Saccade latency was only increased in the CBGD group. Sinusoidai smooth pursuit did not differentiate between controls and patients; however, with step‐ramp stimuli, pursuit eye acceleration was impaired in all patient groups compared with controls. The vestibulo‐ocular reflex, with or without visual enhancement, was similar in patients and controls. These findings indicate that (1) in parkinsonian syndromes apart from PSP, the saccade‐generating brainstem burst neurons are probably spared, but the signals that they receive, specifying the size and direction of saccades, are flawed; and (2) measurements of the gain and trajectory of oblique saccades, and initiation of smooth pursuit, may aid in diagnosing these different types of parkinsonism.