Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 73, Issue 12 , Pages 623-627, December 2010

Fatigue in Colchicine Myopathy: A Study of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

  • Kon-Ping Lin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Yang-Ching Lo

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Chia-Yi Lin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Neurology, Chinese Medical University Hospital-Taipei Branch, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Jen-Tse Chen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Neurology, Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Yung-Yang Lin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Medical Research, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Physiology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Yi-Chung Lee

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Kwong-Kum Liao

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Kwong-Kum Liao, Department of Neurology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Received 25 May 2010; accepted 14 July 2010.

Background

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive method to assess brain physiology and plasticity. TMS has shown that nervous system excitability may be altered in myopathy, and it presents with motor disinhibition on cortical and subcortical levels. Eight patients who had colchicine myopathy were observed to have fatigue, but they did not have significant weakness. This study investigated whether there was central reorganization to compensate for their muscle strength.

Methods

TMS was applied to study the central compensative mechanism. The TMS parameters included motor evoked potentials, central conduction time, cortical silent period and intracortical inhibition of paired TMS paradigms.

Results

TMS results did not show any significant differences between patient and control groups.

Conclusion

Although central reorganization may occur in patients with hereditary myopathy to compensate for muscular strength, our study did not find any change in cortical excitabilities in acquired myopathy due to colchicine. Muscle fatigue may precede weakness as an early symptom of myopathy.

Key Words:  colchicine , fatigue , myopathy , plasticity , transcranial magnetic stimulation

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PII: S1726-4901(10)70136-2

doi:10.1016/S1726-4901(10)70136-2

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 73, Issue 12 , Pages 623-627, December 2010

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