Neurophysiology of Dystonia |
Jae Woo Kim |
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Copyright © 1999 The Korean Society of Clinical Neurophysiology |
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited. |
ABSTRACT |
Dystonia is a movement disorder characterized by sustained, involuntary muscle contractions leading to abnormal postures. Using EMG recordings, three types of involuntary activity can be seen in dystonia. There are abnormalities in many different types of reflexes in dystonia. In view of the strong connection between the basal ganglia and motor areas of the cerebral cortex, there have been several investigations suggesting defects in cortical function including movement-related cortical potentials and contingent negative variation in patients with dystonia. Although dystonia is considered as a movement disorder, there are several phenomena relating to the sensory system that might suggest that dystonia could be primarily a sensory disorder. It is suggested that loss of inhibition from basal ganglia both at the cortical level and brainstem and spinal cord leading to defective control of interneuronal excitability be an important role for the pathogenesis of dystonia. |
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