Hypermetabolism of olivary nuclei in a patient with progressive ataxia and palatal tremor.
: Korpela J, Joutsa J, Rinne JO, Bergman J, Kaasinen V.
: 2015
: Tremor and Other Hyperkinetic Movements
: 5
: 2
: 2160-8288
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7916/D8PV6JMT(external)
Background: The pathophysiology of the movement disorder progressive ataxia with palatal tremor (PAPT) is unclear.
Case report: A 77-year-old male presented with dysarthria, ataxia, and 1–2 Hz palatal tremor. A diagnosis of probable sporadic PAPT was established. Brain magnetic resonance imaging was normal at the presymptomatic phase but later showed olivary hypertrophy. Brain [18F]-fludeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) showed bilateral hypermetabolism in the olivary nuclei.
Discussion: This second reported patient with PAPT and FDG-PET shows that olivary hypertrophy is paralleled with hypermetabolism. The olivary nuclei pathology also appears to be temporally associated with symptom onset.
