This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Mindy L. Aisen, MD; B. Dov Adelstein, PhD; Jorge Romero, MD; Alethea Morris; Michael Rosen, PhD

Arch Neurol. 1992;49(7):740-742.

Abstract
• The tremor of chronic alcoholism, although clinically similar to essential tremor, has been considered a distinct syndrome. Its underlying mechanism was analyzed in five patients (none in the acute stages of alcohol withdrawal) hospitalized in an alcohol detoxification program. All five patients performed tracking tasks in which they pursued a linearly moving "target" light with a response light that they controlled by flexion-extension activity of the wrist. Stationary and dynamic targets were used with both isometric and unconstrained wrist mechanical interfaces. Frequency, torque, and displacement tremor characteristics were examined under varying inertial loading or isometric voluntary torque conditions. Two simultaneous tremor components were present in all patients: a prominent 4- to 7-Hz low-frequency peak and a smaller-amplitude 9.4- to 9.6-Hz high-frequency peak. As the inertia of the hand was augmented during unconstrained tasks, the low-frequency peak decreased, while the high-frequency peak was unaffected. As required voluntary effort was increased during isometric testing, the amplitude of the low-frequency peak increased. These findings suggest that the low-frequency peak represents the significant pathologic component of the tremor of chronic alcoholism and that it has a biomechanical reflex mechanism similar to that of the lower-amplitude normal physiologic tremor.

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Neurology and The Burke Rehabilitation Center, Cornell University Medical College, White Plains, NY (Dr Aisen), the Department of Neurology, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Brockton, Mass (Dr Romero), and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass (Drs Adelstein and Rosen and Ms Morris).

Footnotes
Accepted for publication February 21, 1992.

Reprint requests to The Burke Rehabilitation Center, Cornell University Medical College, 785 Mamroneck Ave, White Plains, NY 10605 (Dr Aisen).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?