Preprogramming motor dysfunction in paroxysmal kinesigenic choreoathetosis

Funct Neurol. 2003 Jan-Mar;18(1):29-34.

Abstract

Paroxysmal kinesigenic choreoathetosis (PKC) is characterized by abnormal involuntary movements precipitated by sudden movement. As a result, a possible impairment of cerebral organization of voluntary motor activity is hypothesized in PKC. We examined a 14-year-old boy affected by a sporadic form of PKC, adopting a multimodal psychophysiological approach, including P300, contingent negative variation (CNV) and a specific paradigm for the study of movement related potentials (MRPs). Recordings were made before and after phenobarbital therapy. No changes were observed in the non-motor parameters (P300 and early wave of the CNV), whereas the premotor CNV component and the electrophysiological components, reflecting the preprogramming activity of a voluntary motor act, showed selective modifications induced by the anticonvulsant therapy. Our PKC patient presents a disorder of temporal organization of a voluntary motor response to a stimulus. Both a clinical improvement and normalization of motor-related electrophysiological anomalies were observed during phenobarbital (PB) therapy.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Athetosis / diagnosis
  • Athetosis / drug therapy
  • Athetosis / physiopathology*
  • Chorea / diagnosis
  • Chorea / drug therapy
  • Chorea / physiopathology*
  • Contingent Negative Variation / physiology
  • Electrophysiology
  • Event-Related Potentials, P300 / physiology
  • Evoked Potentials, Motor / physiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Movement Disorders / physiopathology
  • Phenobarbital / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Phenobarbital