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Part of the book series: Current Clinical Neurology ((CCNEU))

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Abstract

Discussion of thalamic surgery for treatment of tremor begins with an understanding of anatomic terminology. Several nomenclatures have been used for the nuclei of the human thalamus (1–4). Hassler’s terminology (1) is the most commonly used in the movement disorders literature and will be used here. The motor thalamus lies ventrally and from front to back consists of lateral polaris (LPo) most anteriorly receiving input from globus pallidus (GPi) and substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr); ventralis oralis anterior (Voa) and ventralis oralis posterior (Vop) receiving input from GPi; and ventral intermediate nucleus (Vim) receiving input from cerebellum. Ventralis caudalis (Vc) lies posterior to motor thalamus receiving lemniscal and spinothalamic sensory input. In the Anglo-American nomenclature, the ventral anterior nucleus (VA) includes Lpo and Voa, the ventrolateral nucleus (VL) includes Vop and Vim, and the ventral posterior nucleus is equivalent to Vc.

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Tarsy, D., Norregaard, T., Hubble, J. (2003). Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor. In: Tarsy, D., Vitek, J.L., Lozano, A.M. (eds) Surgical Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease and Other Movement Disorders. Current Clinical Neurology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-312-5_11

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