Title Ultrasonographic (TCS) and clinical findings in overlapping phenotype of essential tremor and Parkinson's disease (ET-PD) /
Authors Laučkaitė, Kristina ; Rastenytė, Daiva ; Šurkienė, Danguolė ; Vaidelytė, Birutė ; Dambrauskaitė, Gabrielė ; Sakalauskas, Andrius ; Vaitkus, Antanas ; Gleiznienė, Rymantė
DOI 10.1186/1471-2377-14-54
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Is Part of BMC neurology.. London : BioMed central. 2014, vol. 14, art. no. 54, p. 1-9.. ISSN 1471-2377
Keywords [eng] essential tremor ; Parkinson’s disease ; hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra ; phenotype ; transcranial sonography
Abstract [eng] Background: Essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are considered distinct disorders. The aim of the study was to look for a link or any distinguishing features by transcranial sonography (TCS), together with the clinical examination findings in a group of patients with overlapping phenotype of ET and PD (ET-PD). Methods: A prospective observational case-control study was carried out from the 3rd January 2011 until 30th January 2013 at the Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. The final study group consisted of 15 patients with ET-PD, 116 patients with ET-only and 141 patients with PD-only. The control group included 101 subjects. Clinical diagnosis was of a diagnostic standard. Results: The main ultrasonographic findings in the ET-PD group were similar to those of the PD-only: hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra (66.7%, p < 0.001) and nuclei raphe interruptions/absence (38.5%, p < 0.001). The single distinguishing TCS finding in ET-PD group was a lentiform nucleus hyperechogenicity (26.7%), however this was only significant when compared to controls (p = 0.006). An asymmetrical onset of symptoms (73.3%) in ET-PD group was characteristic to PD-only. The ET-PD patients had the longest disease duration (median 6 years, p < 0.001), the most frequent rate of positive family history (53.3%, p = 0.005), rather low prevalence of cogwheel rigidity (26.7%, p < 0.001), and higher mean Hoehn & Yahr scores compared to PD-only (2.6 ± 0.8 vs. 1.8 ± 0.8, p = 0.012).
Published London : BioMed central
Type Journal article
Language English
Publication date 2014
CC license CC license description