Premium
Brainstem pathology in spasmodic dysphonia
Author(s) -
Simonyan Kristina,
Ludlow Christy L.,
Vortmeyer Alexander O.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1002/lary.20677
Subject(s) - brainstem , reticular formation , pathophysiology , pathology , medicine , locus coeruleus , degeneration (medical) , reticular connective tissue , focal dystonia , dystonia , spasmodic dysphonia , anatomy , neuroscience , central nervous system , psychology , botulinum toxin , anesthesia , psychiatry , endocrinology
Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is a primary focal dystonia of unknown pathophysiology, characterized by involuntary spasms in the laryngeal muscles during speech production. We examined two rare cases of postmortem brainstem tissue from SD patients compared to four controls. In the SD patients, small clusters of inflammation were found in the reticular formation surrounding solitary tract, spinal trigeminal, and ambigual nuclei, inferior olive, and pyramids. Mild neuronal degeneration and depigmentation were observed in the substantia nigra and locus coeruleus. No abnormal protein accumulations and no demyelination or axonal degeneration were found. These neuropathological findings may provide insights into the pathophysiology of SD. Laryngoscope, 2010