A diffusion tensor imaging study in essential tremor.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Essential tremor (ET) is suggested to be a neural degenerative disease. The authors investigated the fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value in basal ganglia, thalamus, red nucleus, and substantia nigra in ET patients using diffusion tensor image (DTI).

METHODS

DTI examination was carried out in patients with ET and controls. FA and ADC values were obtained from various brain structures, including caudate, putamen+pallidum, thalamus, red nucleus, and substantia nigra.

RESULTS

The ADC value of the red nuclei in patients with ET was higher compared with controls (.90 vs .77; P= .000). However, no significant differences were demonstrated for FA, or ADC values of other structures.

CONCLUSIONS

The increased ADC value in the red nucleus indicates that there is neuronal damage or loss present, suggesting that ET may be a neurodegenerative disease.