Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Electrical Stimulation of Nerves to Study Focal Dystonia

NCT00050024 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 03004803-N-0048
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 38
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study will use transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electrical stimulation of nerves to examine how the brain controls muscle movement in focal hand dystonia (writer's cramp). Normally, when a person moves a finger, the brain's motor cortex prevents the other fingers from moving involuntarily. Patients with focal hand dystonia have difficulty with individualized finger movements, possibly due to increased excitability of the motor cortex. Musicians, writers, typists, athletes and others whose work involves frequent repetitive movements may develop focal dystonia of the hand. Healthy normal volunteers and patients with focal dystonia 18 years of age and older may be eligible for this study. For the TMS procedure, subjects are seated in a comfortable chair with their hands placed on a pillow on their lap. An insulated wire coil is placed on the scalp. A brief electrical current is passed through the coil, creating a magnetic pulse that stimulates the brain. This may cause muscle, hand or arm twitching if the coil is near the part of the brain that controls movement, or it may induce twitches or transient tingling in the forearm, head or face muscles. Subjects will be asked to move a finger. Just before this movement, a brief electrical stimulation will be applied to the end of either the second or fifth finger. Metal electrodes will be taped to the skin over the muscle for computer recording of the electrical activity of the hand and arm muscles activated by the stimulation. The testing will last 2-3 hours. ...

Conditions

Dystonic Disorders

Keywords

TMS; Afferent Stimulation; Motor Cortex; Writer's Cramp; Surround Inhibition; Heterotopic Inhibition; Focal Dystonia; Writer Cramp

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Nineteen patients age 18 and over with focal dystonia of the upper limbs (writer's cramp) will be recruited for the study.
• For patients, the only selection criteria are the presence of focal hand dystonia.
• Nineteen normal subjects age 18 and over will be recruited for the control group.
• The controls will not have dystonia or any other neurological condition.
• All subjects will sign an informed consent prior to participation in the trial.

You may not qualify if:

• Furthermore, any individual who has a pacemaker, an implanted medical pump, a metal plate or metal object in the skull or eye (for example, after brain surgery), or who has a history of seizure disorder will be excluded from the trial.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS): lead

Study Sites (1)

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike

Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Abbruzzese G, Marchese R, Buccolieri A, Gasparetto B, Trompetto C. Abnormalities of sensorimotor integration in focal dystonia: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Brain. 2001 Mar;124(Pt 3):537-45. doi: 10.1093/brain/124.3.537.

  PMID: 11222454 BACKGROUND

• Hallett M. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and the human brain. Nature. 2000 Jul 13;406(6792):147-50. doi: 10.1038/35018000.

  PMID: 10910346 BACKGROUND

• Ahmad F, McPhie P. The denaturation of covalently inhibited swine pepsin. Int J Pept Protein Res. 1978 Sep;12(3):155-63. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-3011.1978.tb02879.x.

  PMID: 29843 BACKGROUND

• Hallett M. Is dystonia a sensory disorder? Ann Neurol. 1995 Aug;38(2):139-40. doi: 10.1002/ana.410380203. No abstract available.

  PMID: 7654059 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Dystonic Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Movement Disorders; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Sponsor Type: NIH

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 19, 2002
• First Posted: November 20, 2002
• Study Start: November 13, 2002
• Study Completion: September 17, 2008
• Last Updated: July 2, 2017

Record last verified: 2008-09-17

Locations

US (1)