ABNORMAL CEREBRAL ACTIVATION-ASSOCIATED WITH A MOTOR TASK IN TOURETTE-SYNDROME

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, PET scannin g and EEG suggest an abnormal organization of the sensorimotor cortex and basal ganglia. The purpose of this study was to use functional MR imaging to study activation in the sensorimotor cortex in patients wit h Tourette syndrome. METHODS: From echo-planar images acquired during intermittent performance of a finger-tapping task, the location of act ivated pixels was determined by means of conventional signal processin g methods. In five patients with Tourette syndrome and five healthy vo lunteers, the number of activated pixels in the sensorimotor cortices and supplementary motor areas were counted. The area over which the ac tivation was distributed was calculated. RESULTS: In the five patients , the average number of pixels activated during the finger-tapping tas k in the sensorimotor cortices and supplementary motor area (69.4 pixe ls) exceeded that in the volunteers (49.2 pixels). The difference was significant. The area over which the pixels,vas distributed was signif icantly larger (25.4 vs 13.8 cm(2)). CONCLUSION: Motor function is org anized differently in patients with Tourette syndrome than in healthy subjects.