Movement Disorders: A Comprehensive Survey

Abstract

Some of the most curious conditions seen by clinicians are the aberrations of movement that reflect dysfunction of the motor control circuits of the brain. The manifestations of these disorders may include grossly excessive motions (for example, chorea, tics, myoclonus, tremor), too little movement (parkinsonism or the akinetic rigid syndromes), or excessive postures (dystonia). The disorders may be familial (such as Huntington's disease), iatrogenic (such as tardive dyskinesia or levodopa-induced chorea), or, in many cases, sporadic and idiopathic (as in Parkinson's disease). The pathologic spectrum of these conditions runs the gamut from no discernible cerebral involvement, as in the case of idiopathic torsion dystonias or essential tremor, to widespread involvement of the central nervous system, as in the case of progressive supranuclear palsy.