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Auditory startle response is normal in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

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Abstract

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is hypothesized to originate from the dysfunction of thalamo-cortical circuit. We aimed to analyze any changes in auditory startle response in JME patients to determine the role of brainstem in JME. The responses of 18 JME patients to auditory simulation were recorded over the unilateral orbicularis oculi, masseter, sternocleidomastoid, and extremity muscles. Results were compared with those of 18 age and gender matched healthy volunteers. Total auditory startle response frequencies were similar between the two groups (31.1 ± 11.1 % vs. 33.7 ± 8.7 %, p = 0.400). Other parameters over each muscle were also similar. There were no impacts of antiepileptic drug use or disease duration. We may conclude that our findings may provide sufficient evidence for the lack of functional changes of the auditory startle response circuit even in longstanding cases of JME.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof. Dr. Ahmet Dirican for performing statistical analysis.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Bayindir Hospital Icerenkoy, Ali Nihat Tarlan Cad. Ertas Sok. No: 17, 34752, Atasehir, Istanbul, Turkey

    Melek Kandemir

  2. Department of Neurology, Istanbul University, Cerrahpasa School of Medicine, 34098, Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ayşegül Gündüz, Nurten Uzun, Naz Yeni & Meral Kızıltan

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  1. Melek Kandemir
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  2. Ayşegül Gündüz
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  3. Nurten Uzun
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  4. Naz Yeni
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  5. Meral Kızıltan
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Correspondence to Melek Kandemir.

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Kandemir, M., Gündüz, A., Uzun, N. et al. Auditory startle response is normal in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Neurol Sci 36, 1247–1249 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-015-2181-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-015-2181-6

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