Brain Advance Access published online on April 8, 2003
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awg132
© 2003 by Guarantors of Brain
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Article
1 Department of Neurology, University of Luebeck, Germany
* Corresponding author. E-mail: helmchen_ch{at}neuro.mu-leubeck.de.
Received 7 November 2002
; revised 21 January 2003
; accepted 23 January 2003
Experimental and clinical data indicate that the cerebellum is involved in the pathophysiology of advanced stages of essential tremor (ET). The aim of this study was to determine whether a dysfunction also affects cerebellar structures involved in eye movement control. Eye movements of 14 patients with ET and 11 age-matched control subjects were recorded using the scleral search-coil technique. Vestibular function was assessed by electro-oculography. Eight ET patients had clinical evidence of intention tremor (ETIT); six had a predominantly postural tremor (ETPT) without intention tremor. ET patients showed two major deficits that may indicate cerebellar dysfunction: (i) an impaired smooth pursuit initiation; and (ii) pathological suppression of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) time constant by head tilts (‘otolith dumping'). In the step ramp smooth pursuit paradigm, the initial eye acceleration in the first 60 ms of pursuit generation was significantly reduced in ET patients, particularly in ETIT patients, by
Keywords: cerebellum; essential tremor; eye movements; intention tremor
Eye movement abnormalities in essential tremor may indicate cerebellar dysfunction
2 Department of Neurology, University of Kiel, Germany
44% (mean 23.4°/s2) compared with that of control subjects (mean 41.3°/s2). Subsequent steady-state pursuit velocity and sinusoidal pursuit gain (e.g. 0.4 Hz: 0.90 versus 0.78) were also significantly decreased in ET patients, whereas pursuit latency was unaffected. The intention tremor score correlated with the pursuit deficit, e.g. ETIT patients were significantly more affected than ETPT patients. Gain and time constant (
) of horizontal VOR were normal, but suppression of the VOR time constant by head tilt (‘otolith dumping') was pathological in 41% of ET patients, particularly in ETIT patients. Saccades and gaze-holding function were not impaired. The deficit of pursuit initiation, its correlation with the intensity of intention tremor, and the pathological VOR dumping provide additional evidence of a cerebellar dysfunction in the advanced stage of ET, when intention tremor becomes part of the clinical symptoms, and point to a common pathomechanism. The oculomotor deficits may indicate an impairment of the caudal vermis in ET.
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