Congruent deterioration of complex and simple movements in patients with Huntington’s disease

Transdermal Rivastigmine Treatment Does Not Worsen Impaired Performance of Complex Motions in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

“…Our preliminary study confirms a deterioration in the carrying out of complex motion series in chronic neurodegeneration, which predominantly affects cognitive function [2,3]. This was also shown in disorders with preponderant functional basal ganglia disturbances, i. e., Huntington's disease or Parkinson's disease [19,24,25]. We confirm that assessment of coordinated movements with the non-dominant hand better reflects disturbances of fine motor behavior during neurodegeneration, probably because of regular training and use of the right hand, both of which contribute to overcoming the motor deficit [18,19,21,24,25,30].…”

“…This was also shown in disorders with preponderant functional basal ganglia disturbances, i. e., Huntington's disease or Parkinson's disease [19,24,25]. We confirm that assessment of coordinated movements with the non-dominant hand better reflects disturbances of fine motor behavior during neurodegeneration, probably because of regular training and use of the right hand, both of which contribute to overcoming the motor deficit [18,19,21,24,25,30]. Additionally, we suggest that an improved brain plasticity of the dominant brain hemisphere, with secondary compensation of motor deficits, is responsible for the inferior sensitivity of the applied instrumental paradigm to reflect motor disturbances of the upper limbs during a neurodegenerative process [10,18,19,25,29,30].…”

Rivastigmine in the treatment of patients with Alzheimer's disease

“…A further trial that investigated the impact of transdermal rivastigmine administration on motor performance with an altered standardized peg insertion paradigm showed that patients with predominant cholinergic neurodegeneration need longer for performance of the peg insertion paradigm in comparison with controls. Thus this study confirms a deterioration in carrying out of complex motion series in neurodegenerative processes, because this was also shown in disorders with preponderant functional basal ganglia disturbances, ie, Huntington’s disease or PD (Müller et al 2000; Saft et al 2003, 2004). This trial also confirmed that assessment of co-ordinated movements with the non-dominant hand better reflects disturbances of fine motor behavior during neurodegeneration probably due to regular training and use (Müller et al 2000, 2003b; Pal et al 2001; van Vugt et al 2001; Saft et al 2003, 2004).…”

“…Thus this study confirms a deterioration in carrying out of complex motion series in neurodegenerative processes, because this was also shown in disorders with preponderant functional basal ganglia disturbances, ie, Huntington’s disease or PD (Müller et al 2000; Saft et al 2003, 2004). This trial also confirmed that assessment of co-ordinated movements with the non-dominant hand better reflects disturbances of fine motor behavior during neurodegeneration probably due to regular training and use (Müller et al 2000, 2003b; Pal et al 2001; van Vugt et al 2001; Saft et al 2003, 2004). An improved brain plasticity of the dominant brain hemisphere with secondary better compensation of motor deficits may additionally be responsible for the inferior sensitivity of the applied instrumental paradigm to reflect motor disturbances of the upper limb during a neurodegenerative process (Van Hilten et al 1993; Müller et al 2000, 2003b; van Vugt et al 2001; Ioffe 2004; Saft et al 2004).…”

Fortschritte in Früh- und Verlaufsdiagnostik bei Morbus Huntington

“…Diese Diskrepanz mag eine gewisse Imbalance in der Regulation von komplexen im Verhältnis zu einfachen motorischen Bewegungsmustern widerspiegeln. Insbesondere beim "Tapping" wird dabei wahrscheinlich in hohem Maße eine bradykinetische Komponente abgebildet [125]. In longitudinalen 3-Jahres-Follow-up-Untersuchungen konnte für beide Tests eine Verschlechterung der Testergebnisse parallel zu der Verschlechterung des klinischen Ratings nachgewiesen werden [126,127].…”