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Slowly progressive cerebellar ataxia and cervical dystonia: Clinical presentation of a new form of spinocerebellar ataxia?
Author(s) -
Kuoppamäki Mikko,
Giunti Paula,
Quinn Niall,
Wood Nicholas W.,
Bhatia Kailash P.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
movement disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.352
H-Index - 198
eISSN - 1531-8257
pISSN - 0885-3185
DOI - 10.1002/mds.10308
Subject(s) - cervical dystonia , dystonia , spinocerebellar ataxia , ataxia , cerebellar ataxia , medicine , neurological disorder , psychology , pediatrics , central nervous system disease , neuroscience , surgery
We describe 5 cases with a rare combination of young‐onset, slowly progressive cerebellar ataxia and cervical dystonia. Two were sporadic, whereas the other 3 were familial, including 2 from one family. The age of onset of these cases was between 16 and 37 years. The presenting symptom was cervical dystonia and/or dystonic head tremor in 3 patients and hand or lower limb tremor in 2. In 2 cases, cervical dystonia and/or dystonic head tremor developed approximately 6 to 10 years before cerebellar dysfunction, and in three they developed at the same time. Apart from cervical dystonia, there was mild dystonic limb involvement in 2 cases, but generalized dystonia was not seen. Cerebellar ataxia was slowly progressive. A literature search showed 10 cases of cervical dystonia associated with genetically undetermined (n = 5) or genetically proven (n = 5) spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA). When the genotype was known, these patients had either SCA3, 6, 7, or 12. However, our 5 cases (or their first‐degree relatives) tested negative for SCA1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, and in the 4 cases (or their first‐degree relatives) tested for SCA12, the result was negative. We propose that this rare phenotype manifesting as a combination of cerebellar ataxia and cervical dystonia may represent one or more new, as yet uncharacterized, genotypes of inherited young‐onset spinocerebellar ataxia. © Movement Disorder Society