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  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (75)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

A Specific Target in the Nucleus Ventrointermedius Thalami

Jean-Paul Nguyen, MD; Jean-Denis Degos, MD

Arch Neurol. 1993;50(5):498-500.

Abstract
• The severe proximal cerebellar postural tremor (also called action or intention or hyperkinetic tremor) is barely influenced by thalamotomy or stimulation of the thalamus at the classic target in the lower part of the nucleus ventrointermedius thalami (VIM). In four patients with a severe postural distal and proximal tremor, an electrode fitted with four points of contact was introduced within the entire height of the VIM. In each patient, stimulation of the lower part of the VIM was most effective in the distal component of the tremor, whereas its proximal component was specifically reduced by stimulation of its upper part. These results indicate that (1) proximal postural tremors can be as much affected by stimulation of the VIM as distal tremors, (2) there is a somatotopy in the VIM that is similar to that in the nucleus ventralis posterolateralis thalami, and (3) it is possible with this technique to adjust the VIM stimulation site so as to obtain the maximum efficacy according to the locale of the tremor.

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Neurosciences, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Créteil, France.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication August 13, 1992.

Reprint requests to Department of Neurosciences, Hôpital Henri Mondor, 94010 Créteil, France (Dr Degos).

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

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Bilateral stimulation of the caudal zona incerta nucleus for tremor control
Plaha et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2008;79:504-513.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Improvement of upper limb ataxia and intention tremor allowing cessation of thalamic electrostimulation after four years
Moringlane et al.
Mult Scler 2004;10:708-710.
ABSTRACT  

Combination of thalamic Vim stimulation and GPi pallidotomy synergistically abolishes Holmes' tremor
Goto and Yamada
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2004;75:1203-1204.
FULL TEXT  

Chronic deep brain stimulation for the treatment of tremor in multiple sclerosis: review and case reports
Wishart et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2003;74:1392-1397.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Vim thalamotomy for Holmes' tremor secondary to midbrain tumour
Kim et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2002;73:453-455.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Stereotactic lesional surgery for the treatment of tremor in multiple sclerosis: A prospective case-controlled study
Alusi et al.
Brain 2001;124:1576-1589.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Deep brain stimulation of subthalamic area for severe proximal tremor
Kitagawa et al.
Neurology 2000;55:114-116.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Tremor in multiple sclerosis
ALUSI et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 1999;66:131-134.
FULL TEXT  

Distal versus proximal arm tremor in multiple sclerosis assessed by visually guided tracking tasks
Liu et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 1999;66:43-47.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT