Associations between a cerebellar motor dysfunction scale and movement initiation and completion in olivopontocerebellar atrophy

Correlations were drawn between subscores of a cerebellar motor dysfunction (CMD) scale and simple reaction time (RT) and movement time (MT) in patients diagnosed with olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA). Poor performance on CMD subscores was correlated with long disease duration and lengthening of visual and auditory RT and MT, with the motor speed subscore showing the highest correlations. OPCA patients with severe cerebellar HMPAO uptake deficiency on single photon emission computed tomography scans had poorer performances on three of the four subscores (static equilibrium, dynamic equilibrium and nystagmus, and motor speed) than patients with mild deficiency. These results are discussed in terms of the role of cerebellar afferent/efferent pathways on different types of motor dysfunction in patients with cerebellar atrophy.