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Are there two different forms of functional dystonia? A multimodal brain structural MRI study

Molecular Psychiatry volume 25, pages 3350–3359 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

This study assessed brain structural alterations in two diverse clinical forms of functional (psychogenic) dystonia (FD) – the typical fixed dystonia (FixFD) phenotype and the “mobile” dystonia (MobFD) phenotype, which has been recently described in one study. Forty-four FD patients (13 FixFD and 31 MobFD) and 43 healthy controls were recruited. All subjects underwent 3D T1-weighted and diffusion tensor (DT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cortical thickness, volumes of gray matter (GM) structures, and white matter (WM) tract integrity were assessed. Normal cortical thickness in both FD patient groups compared with age-matched healthy controls were found. When compared with FixFD, MobFD patients showed cortical thinning of the left orbitofrontal cortex, and medial and lateral parietal and cingulate regions bilaterally. Additionally, compared with controls, MobFD patients showed reduced volumes of the left nucleus accumbens, putamen, thalamus, and bilateral caudate nuclei, whereas MobFD patients compared with FixFD demonstrated atrophy of the right hippocampus and globus pallidus. Compared with both controls and MobFD cases, FixFD patients showed a severe disruption of WM architecture along the corpus callous, corticospinal tract, anterior thalamic radiations, and major long-range tracts bilaterally. This study showed different MRI patterns in two variants of FD. MobFD had alterations in GM structures crucial for sensorimotor processing, emotional, and cognitive control. On the other hand, FixFD patients were characterized by a global WM disconnection affecting main sensorimotor and emotional control circuits. These findings may have important implications in understanding the neural substrates underlying different phenotypic FD expression levels.

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Acknowledgements

The study was partially supported by the Ministry of Education and Science Republic of Serbia (grant #175090).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy

    Aleksandra Tomic, Federica Agosta, Elisabetta Sarasso, Silvia Basaia & Massimo Filippi

  2. Clinic of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Aleksandra Tomic, Igor Petrovic & Vladimir S. Kostic

  3. Institute of Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Danilo Pesic & Milutin Kostic

  4. Biostatistics Unit, IRCCS-Ospedale Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, Italy

    Andrea Fontana

  5. Department of Neurology, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy

    Massimo Filippi

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  1. Aleksandra Tomic
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  2. Federica Agosta
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Correspondence to Massimo Filippi.

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Conflict of interest

AT, ES, SB, DP, MK, and AF declare that they have no conflict of interest. FA is Section Editor of NeuroImage: Clinical; has received speaker honoraria from Biogen Idec and Novartis; and receives or has received research supports from the Italian Ministry of Health, AriSLA (Fondazione Italiana di Ricerca per la SLA), and the European Research Council. IP has received speaker honoraria from Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, El pharma, Roche and Actavis. VSK has received research grants from Ministry of Education and Science, Republic of Serbia and the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts; speaker honoraria from Novartis and Boehringer Ingelheim. MF is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurology; serves on a scientific advisory board for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries; has received compensation for consulting services and/or speaking activities from Biogen Idec, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries; and receives research support from Biogen Idec, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Novartis, Italian Ministry of Health, Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla, Cure PSP, Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), the Jacques and Gloria Gossweiler Foundation (Switzerland), and ARiSLA (Fondazione Italiana di Ricerca per la SLA).

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Tomic, A., Agosta, F., Sarasso, E. et al. Are there two different forms of functional dystonia? A multimodal brain structural MRI study. Mol Psychiatry 25, 3350–3359 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0222-2

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