Movement disorders in hereditary ataxias

Movement disorders are well known features of some dominant hereditary ataxias (HA), specially SCA3/Machado-Joseph disease and dentatorubropallidolusyan atrophy. However, little is known about the existence and classification of movement disorders in other dominant and recessive ataxias. We prospectively studied the presence of movement disorders in patients referred for HA over the last 3 years. Only those patients with a confirmed family history of ataxia were included. We studied 84 cases of HA, including 46 cases of recessive and 38 cases of dominant HA. Thirty out of 46 cases of recessive HA could be classified as: Friedreich ataxia (FA), 29 cases; vitamin E deficiency, 1 case. Twenty-three out of 38 cases of dominant HA could be classified as: SCA 2, 4 cases; SCA 3, 8 cases; SCA 6, 4 cases; SCA 7, 6 cases and SCA 8, 1 case. We observed movement disorders in 20/38 (52%) patients with dominant HA and 25/46 (54%) cases with recessive HA, including 16 patients (16/29) with FA. In general, postural tremor was the most frequent observed movement disorder (27 cases), followed by dystonia (22 cases). Five patients had akinetic rigid syndrome, and in 13 cases, several movement disorders coexisted. Movement disorders are frequent findings in HA, not only in dominant HA but also in recessive HA.