Neurosurgical and pharmacological management of dystonia

Figure 1 Tracts associated with optimal outcome for patients with cervical (left) and generalized (right) dystonia[85]. A: On a broader scale (slightly lower threshold), modulation of corticofugal tracts from the somatomotor head and neck region was associated with optimal outcomes in cervical dystonia, while tracts from the whole somatotopical domain were associated with generalized dystonia; B: On a localized level (slightly higher threshold), in cervical dystonia, striatopallidofugal tracts of the posterior comb system were associated with optimal outcomes. In contrast, fibers from the fasciculus lenticularis were negatively associated. In generalized dystonia, both pallidothalamic bundles (ansa and fasciculus lenticularis) were associated with optimal outcomes, as was a more anterior portion of the comb system; C: Across the cervical and generalized cohorts, the degree of how fittingly the identified networks were modulated by each patient’s E-field correlated with clinical improvements. While these correlation analyses are of circular nature, a permutation statistic (bottom) showed superior model fits for unpermuted vs permuted improvement values. Citation: Horn A, Reich MM, Ewert S, Li N, Al-Fatly B, Lange F, Roothans J, Oxenford S, Horn I, Paschen S, Runge J, Wodarg F, Witt K, Nickl RC, Wittstock M, Schneider GH, Mahlknecht P, Poewe W, Eisner W, Helmers AK, Matthies C, Krauss JK, Deuschl G, Volkmann J, Kühn AA. Optimal deep brain stimulation sites and networks for cervical vs. generalized dystonia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119: e2114985119. Copyright© The Authors 2022. Published by National Academy of Sciences of the United States (Supplementary material).