Showing papers on "Tourette syndrome published in 1980"

Clonidine ameliorates Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.

Abstract: • Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (TS) is a severe, familial neuropsychiatric disorder of childhood onset that is characterized by multiform motor, phonic, behavioral, and psychological symptoms. Clonidine hydrochloride, a centrally active α-adrenergic agonist, was observed to ameliorate the disorder in the majority of 25 patients who could not tolerate or did not benefit from treatment with haloperidol. Clonidine had a gradual onset of action. Compulsive behavior, frustration intolerance, speech difficulties, behavioral blocking, attentional problems, and tics were responsive to treatment. The noradrenergic system may be involved, primarily or secondarily, in the expression of the genetic predisposition to TS. These observations will require testing by suitably controlled efficacy studies.

Gilles de la tourette syndrome: Clinical and family study of 50 cases

Abstract: Fifty patients with Tourette syndrome were evaluated; data included family history, clinical characteristics, response to haloperidol, and side effects during haloperidol therapy. Sixteen patients had a family history of Tourette syndrome, and another 16 had a family history of tics. Twenty-four families had more than 2 members with Tourette syndrome or tics. There was no preponderance of families with a Jewish, Eastern European background in this sample. Thirty-four patients had obsessive-compulsive behavior. Among the 50 patients there was a high frequency of sleep disturbance, learning disability, self-destructive behavior, inappropriate sexual activity, and antisocial behavior. Family history was significantly related to the occurrence of sleep disturbance, obsessive-compulsive behavior, haloperidol response, and the frequency of side effects caused by haloperidol. The precise mode of genetic transmission in familial Tourette syndrome remains to be determined.

Familial Pattern of Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome

Abstract: • As part of a pilot questionnaire survey of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (TS), data on TS and tics for relatives of 75 patients with TS were collected. The frequencies of TS and/or tics among relatives were significantly heterogeneous in a familial pattern that suggests (1) that the disorder is transmitted, with tics alone being a milder manifestation, and that this severity difference is a threshold phenomenon related to transmission; (2) that the sex difference in prevalence is real because it was found among relatives of both male and female probands; and (3) that the sex difference is related to transmission as a threshold effect since female probands, although less common than male probands, had a higher proportion of affected relatives. These pilot data provide evidence for the transmission of TS and can be qualitatively explained by a genetic model of transmission.

Deleterious Effects of Drugs Used for Hyperactivity on Patients with Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome

Abstract: Two pediatricians failed to recognize Gilles de la Tourette syndrome in a child. The symptoms were exacerbated after the child took both pemoline and methylphenidate. All medications commonly used to treat hyperactivity may cause such exacerbation. Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is frequently associated with symptoms characteristic of hyperactivity and often goes unrecognized for long periods of time. The symptoms of the syndrome and the evidence that they are exacerbated by medication used to hyperactivity are briefly reviewed. Physicians should be aware of the possibility of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome in any hyperactive patient who manifests or has a history of a tic.

Theoretical and Clinical Aspects of the Tourette Syndrome (Chronic Multiple Tic)

Abstract: In three schizophrenic patients long-term neuroleptic treatment induced Tourette-like symptoms. There seems to be a partial overlap in the pathogenesis of Tourette Syndrome and tardive dyskinesia.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder of Childhood and Adolescence: A Neurobiological Viewpoint

Abstract: Childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder accounts for 1 to 2% of the childhood psychiatric population. While the psychodynamic aspects of the disorder are usually emphasized, evidence supporting a neurobiological hypothesis exists. This evidence includes twin studies, association with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, neuropsychological test data, psychosurgery reports, association with brain damage, and psychopnarmacological effects. Pediatric populations may be optimal for evaluating neurobiological aspects of the disease.

Special Cases of Affective Disorder and their Treatment with Lithium

Abstract: In the original study of lithium treatment, Cade reported lithium’s ineffectiveness in six patients with a diagnosis of dementia praecox. Since then, lithium has been used in at least 20 psychiatric disorders other than manic-depressive disease: schizophrenia, catatonia, periodic catatonia, schizoaffective disorders, aggressive behaviour, alcoholism, emotionally unstable character disorder, drug abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobic disorder, paranoid states, premenstrual tension, childhood behaviour disorder, mental retardation and self-mutilation, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, organic brain syndrome, mania during maintenance haemodia-lysis, and L-dopa-induced psychosis.

Tourette syndrome, an acquired encephalopathy? A report of two cases with epileptiform dysrhythmia.

Abstract: The electroencephalogram, although providing no specific diagnostic information for Tourette syndrome, may be useful in evaluating the pathology in which the syndrome occurs, since it appears that at least some cases may occur in the setting of an underlying acquired encephalopathy of diverse etiology. A neurochemical basis for the Tourette syndrome expressed as an extrapyramidal circuit imbalance may also relate to a discharge threshold for epileptiform activity. A more detailed electroencephalographic evaluation of such patients using nasopharyngeal or sphenoidal recording may be useful in this regard.

Gilles de la Tourette and the Jumping Syndrome

Abstract: To the Editor.— In regard to the discussion by Joseph E. Hardison, MD (244:70, 1980), of the jumping Frenchmen of Maine, we would like to note the article by Eisenberg et al 1 in which they draw attention to the possible link between these phenomena and the Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. The latter is characterized by movement disorder and coprolalia and, therefore, also presents considerable social problems.