Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40119933›Full record

ArticleJournal of neurology2025

Increased functional connectivity of motor regions and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in musicians with focal hand dystonia.

Stine Alpheis, Christopher Sinke, Julian Burek, Tillmann H C Krüger, Eckart Altenmüller, Daniel S Scholz

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of neurology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Brain network pathophysiology in dystonia.Dystonia (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Stine AlpheisInstitute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Drama and Media, Hannover University of Music, 30175, Hannover, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9760-3489
Christopher SinkeDepartment of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, 30625, Hannover, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1716-6229
Julian BurekHannover Medical School, 30625, Hannover, Germany.
Tillmann H C KrügerDepartment of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, 30625, Hannover, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6583-1433
Eckart AltenmüllerInstitute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Drama and Media, Hannover University of Music, 30175, Hannover, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3734-1178
Daniel S ScholzDepartment of Musicians' Health, University of Music Lübeck, 23552, Lübeck, Germany. daniel.scholz@mh-luebeck.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4880-7773

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMusician's dystonia is the most common form of focal task-specific dystonia and is suggested to be the result of dysfunctional communication among sensory-motor networks. Thus far, few functional connectivity studies have investigated musician's dystonia specifically, leaving its exact pathophysiological mechanisms unclear. The goal of this study was to verify connectivity findings from other task-specific dystonias on a large sample of musician's hand dystonia patients and to analyze associations with possible adverse childhood experiences, a suggested risk factor for dystonia.

methodsForty professional musicians suffering from musician's hand dystonia and a matched control group of healthy musicians underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and answered the childhood trauma questionnaire. Using a seed-to-whole brain approach, functional connectivity alterations between motor cortices, the prefrontal cortex, the basal ganglia and the thalamus were analyzed.

resultsMusician's dystonia patients showed increased functional connectivity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with the putamen and the pallidum, especially in right-side affected patients. Patients further displayed increased connectivity of the left thalamus and the right lateral premotor cortex. No associations between functional connectivity, duration of disorder and childhood adversity were observed.

conclusionThe findings are consistent with previous research, highlighting the pathophysiological importance of the basal ganglia. Altered resting-state functional connectivity may reflect underlying neuroplastic changes in musicians with dystonia that lead to an altered flow of information, disrupting movement inhibition. Involvement of the dorsolateral prefrontal and premotor cortices further suggests that motor disturbances occur in the early planning phase of a movement. The findings indicate that a holistic re-training approach with and without the instrument could be beneficial for regaining motor control.

Indexed as

Dorsolateral Prefrontal CortexDystonic DisordersMotor CortexMusicAdultBrain MappingFemaleHandHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedNeural PathwaysYoung AdultAdverse childhood experiencesBasal gangliaFunctional connectivityMotor networksMusician’s dystoniaResting-state fMRI

Identifiers

PMID40119933
PMCPMC11929630

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.