Voxel-based morphometry in individual patients: a pilot study in early Huntington disease.

Background And Purpose: Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) has proved a powerful method to detect subtle changes of gray matter (GM) at the group level but the role of VBM for the detection of GM changes in single subjects, especially in those with suspected neurodegenerative disorder, remains uncertain. Here, we performed single subject analyses in 22 patients in early stages of Huntington disease (HD), a neurodegenerative disorder with a well-known and characteristic pattern of GM loss.

Materials And Methods: We applied an ANCOVA with age and gender as covariates and corrected for multiple statistical tests by false discovery rate (P < 0.

Striatal gray matter loss in Huntington's disease is leftward biased.

In Huntington's disease (HD), the distribution of pathological changes throughout the brain is incompletely understood. Some studies have identified leftward-biased lateralization, whereas others did not. We performed magnetic resonance imaging and a voxel-based asymmetry analysis in 44 right-handed HD gene carriers (presymptomatic, n = 5; stage I, n = 28; stage II, n = 11) and 44 right-handed healthy controls.

Voxel-based morphometry indicates relative preservation of the limbic prefrontal cortex in early Huntington disease.

In Huntington disease (HD), both the genetic defect and mutant gene product huntington are known but the exact mechanisms that lead to neuronal loss are poorly understood. Until now, the distribution of tissue loss throughout the brain has been investigated intensively. Here we searched for areas that, antipodal to the striatum, display grey-matter (GM) preservation.

Executive dysfunction in early stages of Huntington's disease is associated with striatal and insular atrophy: a neuropsychological and voxel-based morphometric study.

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by a progressive multisystem neuronal atrophy in the brain. Apart from motor signs, cognitive symptoms, particularly executive dysfunctions, are proposed to be recognizable in early stages of disease. The aim of the present study was to clarify if cognitive dysfunction in early stages of HD is correlated with loco-regional structural changes in 3D-MRI.

Long-lasting increase in corticospinal excitability after 1800 pulses of subthreshold 5 Hz repetitive TMS to the primary motor cortex.

Objective: To study the after effects of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) on corticospinal excitability.

Methods: Eight healthy volunteers received either 150 or 1800 stimuli of 5 Hz rTMS on two separate days in a counterbalanced order. rTMS was given over the 'motor hot spot' of the right first dorsal interosseus (FDI) muscle using an intensity of 90% of resting motor threshold (referred to as subthreshold rTMS).