PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - V Di Lazzaro
AU  - D Restuccia
AU  - M Molinari
AU  - M G Leggio
AU  - R Nardone
AU  - D Fogli
AU  - P Tonali
TI  - Excitability of the motor cortex to magnetic stimulation in patients with cerebellar lesions.
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.57.1.108
DP  - 1994 Jan 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 108--110
VI  - 57
IP  - 1
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/57/1/108.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/57/1/108.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry1994 Jan 01; 57
AB  - The excitability of the motor cortex to magnetic stimulation was evaluated in seven patients with cerebellar lesions (six patients with a unilateral lesion) and in 20 control subjects. Magnetic motor threshold was defined at rest. In all but one of the patients with a hemicerebellar lesion the threshold was higher in the motor cortex contralateral to the impaired hemicerebellum and the right/left threshold asymmetry was clearly greater than normal. In the patient with a lesion involving both cerebellar hemispheres the magnetic threshold was above the normal limit on both sides. The latencies of motor responses were normal in all patients. This increase in the magnetic threshold of the motor cortex functionally related to the impaired hemicerebellum suggests the existence of a facilitating tonic action of the cerebellum on central motor circuits that might act at the cortical, or spinal level, or both.