Movement disorders: from a new test to diagnose MSA to tic generation

Excerpt

New techniques, new tracers for imaging studies or the careful re-evaluation of previous findings may give new insights into the pathophysiology of neurological disorders and may also broaden the spectrum of neurological diagnostic tools. This month’s Journal Club focuses on four articles in the field of movement disorders that provide really new insights. In the first article, a very helpful test to differentiate multiple system atrophy (MSA) from Parkinson’s disease (PD) will be described: the arginine growth hormone stimulation test that shows a positive predictive value for MSA of 95%. The second study on D2–receptor binding will give evidence for hypoactive dopaminergic neurotransmission in restless legs syndrome (RLS). This was possible due to the application of new tracers. In the third article, it will be reported that a brain network of paralimbic areas is involved in the generation of tics in Tourette syndrome; this was done by event-related functional MRI. Finally, in the fourth article, it will be shown that subjects who had an exposure to pesticides have a 70% higher incidence of Parkinson’s disease. This was achieved by a large epidemiological survey on initially more than 140 000 individuals. …