Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation 
 in Parkinson’s disease

J Korean Neurol Assoc > Volume 17(3); 1999 > Article

Journal of the Korean Neurological Association 1999;17(3): 352-358.

파킨슨병 환자에서 경두개 자기자극

최재철, 박민규, 박건우, 이대희

고려대학교 의과대학 신경과학교실

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Parkinson’s disease

Jaychol Choi, M.D., Minkyu Park, M.D., Kunwoo Park, M.D., Daehie Lee, M.D.

Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Korea University 126-1 Anam-dong 5 Ga, Sungbuk-ku, Seoul, Korea 136-705

Abstract

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common movement disorders, yet the pathophysiology of its signs is not clear. A transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to measure the amplitude and latency of the motor evoked potential(MEP) by stimulation of the corticomotoneuronal descending system. By means of this simple and nontraumatic technique we intended to analyze the abnormal motor signs of PD. M e t h o d s: We studied 20 PD patients aged 35 to 78 years and 12 normal persons aged 37 to 67 years. Hoehn-Yahr scale of PD patients were as fol-lows : I, 4 patients ; II ,11 patients ; III, 4 patients ; IV, 1 patient. The responses were was recorded from abductor polli-cis brevis (APB) muscles and abductor hallucis (AH) muscles. The TMS was performed on the cervical spine and ver-tex for APB muscle and on the lumbar spine and C3 or C4 for bilateral AH muscles. The responses were recorded with both target muscles relaxed and slightly contracted. We measured the threshold, latency, and amplitude of each MEP. The central motor conduction time (CMCT) was calculated by the latency difference between cortical stimulation and cervical or lumbar stimulation.
Results: The central motor conduction times were shorter in PD patients (P < 0.05) compared with normal subjects but there were no differences in motor evoked potentials. Also, PD patients showed a significant increase of stimulation threshold in the facilitation state.
Conclusions: These results may suggest that con-trol of excitability of the motor system is abnormal in PD patients. J Kor Neurol Ass 17(3):352 ~ 358, 1999 Key Words : Transcranial magnetic stimulation, Motor evoked potential, Central motor conduction time, Key Words : Parkinson’s disease