Electrophysiologic characteristics of tremor in Parkinson?s disease and essential tremor

Abstract

Tremor in essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson's disease (PD) usually present specific electrophysiologic profiles, however amplitude and frequency may have wide variations. Objective: To present the electrophysiologic findings in PD and ET. Method: Patients were assessed at rest, with posture and action. Seventeen patients with ET and 62 with PD were included. PD cases were clustered into three groups: predominant rest tremor; tremor with similar intensity at rest, posture and during kinetic task; and predominant kinetic tremor. Results: Patients with PD presented tremors with average frequency of 5.29±1.18 Hz at rest, 5.79±1.39 Hz with posture and 6.48±1.34 Hz with the kinetic task. Tremor in ET presented with an average frequency of 5.97±1.1 Hz at rest, 6.18±1 Hz with posture and 6.53±1.2 Hz with kinetic task. Seven (41.2%) also showed rest tremor. Conclusion: The tremor analysis alone using the methodology described here, is not sufficient to differentiate tremor in ET and PD.

Essential tremor plus rest tremor: current concepts and controversies

“…Thus, RT in ET-plus cases has been shown to have a synchronous EMG pattern as opposed to the alternating pattern observed in PD (Fekete and Li 2013 ; Nisticò et al 2011 ; Vescio et al 2021 ), a finding that has been suggested to differentiate the two conditions at individual level. Conversely, tremor frequency measurement either at rest or across different activating conditions does not distinguish the two conditions (Cichaczewski et al 2014 ). Interestingly, Nisticò et al explored the integrity of the blink reflex recovery cycle (BRRC) in ET + RT and ET, showing that the former had an increased R2 component of the BRRC (Nisticò et al 2012 ).…”

Tremor Essencial e Aspectos Psicológicos: Considerações sobre Estudos Insuficientes Associados

“…Nas pesquisas que abordaram o tema diagnóstico, foi enfatizada a importância da diferenciação entre o TE e a doença de Parkinson, entendendo-se como critério de diagnóstico diferencial o tipo de tremor, que na doença de Parkinson é de repouso e no TE é postural. Nesse sentido, Cichaczewski et al (2014) apontam que os tremores observados em ambas as condições costumam apresentar perfis eletrofisiológicos específicos, embora a amplitude e a frequência possam ter grandes variações. Os autores destacam que a análise do tremor em si não é capaz de diferenciar individualmente os casos de TE e DP, especialmente se for considerada apenas a frequência como variável diferenciada.…”

Hand Tremor Questionnaire: A Useful Screening Tool for Differentiating Patients with Hand Tremor between Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor

“…However, the measured values of tremor parameters have not been consistent, including in their asymmetry, intensity, frequency, and muscle contraction pattern. 4 7 11 12 13 14 15 Positron-emission tomography (PET) with a radioactive isotope has recently been used to evaluate brain function in vivo in a study of neurodegenerative disorders including PD. 16 PET scans for dopamine transporter (DAT) have enabled clinicians to more accurately distinguish PD from ET.…”