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A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study in Essential Tremor
Author(s) -
Jia Liu,
Jialin Shen,
Qin Dong,
Qing Lu,
Yan Zhou
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/j.1552-6569.2010.00535.x
Subject(s) - putamen , fractional anisotropy , medicine , substantia nigra , diffusion mri , caudate nucleus , basal ganglia , thalamus , red nucleus , essential tremor , effective diffusion coefficient , subthalamic nucleus , anatomy , neuroscience , pathology , nucleus , nuclear medicine , nuclear magnetic resonance , parkinson's disease , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , central nervous system , disease , deep brain stimulation , biology , psychiatry , physics
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Essential tremor (ET) is suggested to be a neural degenerative disease. The authors investigated the fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value in basal ganglia, thalamus, red nucleus, and substantia nigra in ET patients using diffusion tensor image (DTI).METHODS DTI examination was carried out in patients with ET and controls. FA and ADC values were obtained from various brain structures, including caudate, putamen+pallidum, thalamus, red nucleus, and substantia nigra.RESULTS The ADC value of the red nuclei in patients with ET was higher compared with controls (.90 vs .77; P = .000). However, no significant differences were demonstrated for FA, or ADC values of other structures.CONCLUSIONS The increased ADC value in the red nucleus indicates that there is neuronal damage or loss present, suggesting that ET may be a neurodegenerative disease.