Abstract #1162

Shah J, Neuner I, Stoecker T, Ehlen C, Kircher T, Schneider F, Kellermann T, Wegener H

Tourette-Syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disorder with motor and vocal tics as prominent symptoms. The origin of the tics is attributed to a dysfunction of the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuitry. Using fMRI at 1.5T, we studied 13 Tourette patients (mean 32.0 SD 10.2 years) and 13 matched healthy volunteers. In a blocked design they performed a working memory task and a Go/No-Go task. Subjects were videotaped with a custom-made, MR-compatible camera system. The results indicate complex frontal dysfunction in Tourette-Syndrome. The task dependent and varying patterns of deactivation or activation of frontal areas distinguishes Tourette patients from controls.