Open AccessUltrasonography and electrophysiological study of median nerve in patients with essential tremor
Author(s) -
Hye Lim Lee,
Ji Sun Kim,
Hanjun Kim,
Il Soo Kim,
Jae Whan Kim,
Ye Eun Kim,
Seong Beom Koh
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0215750
Subject(s) - essential tremor , median nerve , medicine , ultrasonography , wrist , nerve conduction , nuclear medicine , surgery , physical medicine and rehabilitation
Essential tremor (ET) is a common movement disorder characterized by postural or kinetic tremor. We aimed to evaluate median nerve enlargement in patients with ET using ultrasonography (USG). Thirty-eight hands from 19 patients with ET and 24 hands from 13 controls underwent nerve conduction studies (NCS) and USG at the wrist. Tremor severity was measured using the Fahn–Tolosa–Marin Tremor Rating Scale (FTM-TRS). The median nerve cross sectional area (mCSA) in USG and NCS parameters were compared using ANCOVA. We evaluated the correlation between mCSA and NCS parameters or FTM-TRS scores using linear regression analysis. mCSA was significantly larger (p<0.001) and NCS parameters were different in two groups. Also, mCSA was negatively correlated with part B and C scores of FTM-TRS (p<0.001 and p = 0.039, respectively). In conclusion, median nerve enlargement with the changes of NCS parameters was observed and correlated with the severity of tremor in patients with ET.