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Tremor of the eyes, or of the head, in Parkinson's disease?

Tremor of the eyes, or of the head, in Parkinson's disease? Recently, Gitchel et al. reported that “pervasive ocular tremor” is present in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) while they attempt steady visual fixation. This was a universal finding in the 112 PD patients that they studied, but was generally absent from their 60 healthy control subjects. This finding of a pervasive ocular tremor in PD has generated substantial interest but also controversy, as is evident by the article by Kaski et al., and the ensuing correspondence by Baron et al. . Because pervasive ocular tremor might provide a most useful biomarker for PD, it seems justified to examine the validity of the measurements of Gitchel et al. and consider alternative explanations for their results, before they gain wide acceptance and application. Here we summarize some of the evidence for and against the case for pervasive ocular tremor in PD, and suggest future experiments to resolve conflicting opinions. First, consider the visual requirements of eye movements during attempted fixation of a stationary, high‐contrast visual target, such as a letter X. One requirement is that the image of the target of interest must be held on the foveal region of the retina (an area subtending about 0.5 degrees in diameter, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Movement Disorders Wiley

Tremor of the eyes, or of the head, in Parkinson's disease?

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References (32)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Movement Disorder Society
ISSN
0885-3185
eISSN
1531-8257
DOI
10.1002/mds.25478
pmid
23629728
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Recently, Gitchel et al. reported that “pervasive ocular tremor” is present in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) while they attempt steady visual fixation. This was a universal finding in the 112 PD patients that they studied, but was generally absent from their 60 healthy control subjects. This finding of a pervasive ocular tremor in PD has generated substantial interest but also controversy, as is evident by the article by Kaski et al., and the ensuing correspondence by Baron et al. . Because pervasive ocular tremor might provide a most useful biomarker for PD, it seems justified to examine the validity of the measurements of Gitchel et al. and consider alternative explanations for their results, before they gain wide acceptance and application. Here we summarize some of the evidence for and against the case for pervasive ocular tremor in PD, and suggest future experiments to resolve conflicting opinions. First, consider the visual requirements of eye movements during attempted fixation of a stationary, high‐contrast visual target, such as a letter X. One requirement is that the image of the target of interest must be held on the foveal region of the retina (an area subtending about 0.5 degrees in diameter,

Journal

Movement Disorders – Wiley

Published: Jun 1, 2013

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