HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) CME: Take the course for this article: Volume 64, Number 3, February 08, 2005 Correspondence: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Soliveri, P. Articles by Girotti, F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Soliveri, P. Articles by Girotti, F. Related Collections Progressive supranuclear palsy Apraxia Corticobasal degeneration

Limb apraxia in corticobasal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy

From the Department of Neurology, Istituto Nazionale Neurologico ‘C. Besta,’ Milan, Italy.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. F. Girotti, Department of Neurology, Istituto Nazionale Neurologico ‘C. Besta,’ Via Celoria 11, 20133 Milan, Italy; e-mail: soliveri{at}istituto-besta.it

Objective: Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) share pathologic features, and cortical and subcortical signs. Apraxia is frequently described in CBD and sometimes in PSP; however, it is difficult to distinguish ideomotor from limb-kinetic apraxia, and apraxia frequency is unclear. The authors set out to clarify the nature and frequency of apraxia in these diseases.

Methods: The authors compared probable CBD and PSP patients, matched for motor disability, to healthy age-matched controls on cognitive tests and the De Renzi ideomotor apraxia test.

Results: Cognitive impairment was similar, but more CBD (70.8%) than PSP (36%) patients had apraxia. CBD patients committed more apraxic errors of awkwardness and were more compromised on simple gestures; PSP patients committed more sequence errors.

Conclusions: While progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) patients had ideomotor apraxia, the peculiar gesture compromise in corticobasal degeneration (CBD) suggests that limb-kinetic apraxia is dominant. In both illnesses, the movement production system of Roy and Square appears compromised: in CBD defective control of muscle activation seems likely, producing clumsy movements; in PSP, control of motor program activation appears defective, resulting in sequence errors and perseverations. The De Renzi test can reliably estimate apraxia frequency and may be used to distinguish limb-kinetic from ideomotor apraxia.

Received March 11, 2004.

Accepted in final form October 11, 2004.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. D. Huey, M. Pardini, A. Cavanagh, E. M. Wassermann, D. Kapogiannis, S. Spina, B. Ghetti, and J. Grafman Association of Ideomotor Apraxia With Frontal Gray Matter Volume Loss in Corticobasal Syndrome Arch Neurol, October 1, 2009; 66(10): 1274 - 1280. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Massimo and M. Grossman Patient Care and Management of Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, May 1, 2008; 23(2): 125 - 131. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. Zadikoff and A. E. Lang Apraxia in movement disorders Brain, July 1, 2005; 128(7): 1480 - 1497. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]