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NEUROLOGY 1992;42:594
© 1992 American Academy of Neurology

Acoustic reflex abnormalities in cranial-cervical dystonia

Henry Lew, MD, Craig Jordan, MS, James Jerger, PhD and Joseph Jankovic, MD

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX (Drs. Lew and Jerger and C. Jordan)
Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX (Dr. Jankovic).

Previous anatomic and physiologic studies suggest brainstem dysfunction in cranial-cervical dystonia. To further explore this, we studied suprathreshold acoustic reflex waveforms in 15 such patients. A unique feature of this technique is its ability to reject movement artifacts before averaging the acoustic reflex waveforms. Thirteen patients (87%) showed some abnormality in reflex waveform morphology. There were both amplitude and latency abnormalities. These findings support the hypothesis that cranial-cervical dystonia reflects dysfunction of the brain-stem.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Henry Lew, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Baylor College of Medicine, 6565 Fannin Street, NA 200, Houston, TX 77030.

Presented in part at the 43rd annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Boston, MA, April 1991.

Supported in part by a grant from the Benign Essential Blepharospasm Research Foundation.

Received May 31, 1991. Accepted for publication in final form August 20, 1991.