The cerebral tremor circuit in a patient with Holmes tremor
Freek Nieuwhof, Rob M.A. de Bie, Peter Praamstra, Pepijn van den Munckhof, Rick C. Helmich
Abstract
The cerebral network associated with Holmes tremor has never been determined directly. A previous study reported a brain network that is functionally connected, in healthy individuals, to different lesions that cause Holmes tremor (lesion connectome). We report a 71-year-old man with severe left-sided tremor caused by a microbleed near the right red nucleus. Using accelerometry-fMRI, we show tremor-related activity in contralateral sensorimotor cortex and cerebellar vermis. This network was distinct from, but functionally coupled to, the Holmes lesion connectome. We propose that Holmes tremor involves three distinct cerebral mechanisms: a structural lesion, an intermediate lesion connectome, and symptom-related activity.