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Central motor conduction time in patients with HTLV‐1 associated myelopathy
Author(s) -
Tomita I.,
Shibayama K.,
Matsuo H.,
Kinoshita I.,
Tsujihata M.,
Nagataki S.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1989.tb03810.x
Subject(s) - myelopathy , pyramidal tracts , medicine , corticospinal tract , spinal cord , lesion , motor cortex , nerve conduction velocity , central nervous system disease , stimulation , anatomy , pathology , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , psychiatry , diffusion mri
— Transcranial electrical stimulation of the motor cortex was performed in 7 patients with human T‐lymphotropic virus type‐I associated myelopathy (HAM) and 15 normal subjects. The mean value of central motor conduction time (CCT) for the thenar and hypothenar muscles in patients with HAM was not different from that in normal subjects. In contrast, mean CCT value for the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscles in patients with HAM was 8.54‐10.34 ms longer than the value in normal subjects. These findings indicate that the lesion of pyramidal tract involvement in patients with HAM is mainly localized in the descending corticomotoneuron pathways at the thoracic spinal cord level. This technique could be used in a clinical study without untoward side effects, and may be valuable in detecting clinically silent lesions involving the pyramidal tract.