[Post-traumatic tics]

Secondary tics are those in which an aetiology justifying them can be found, as compared to idiopathic tics, which make up the majority, and the Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (SGT), which is, at the moment, of unknown origin. Of the possible aetiologies described as causing tics, craneo-encephalic trauma has been mentioned on very few occasions. We present a case of post-traumatic tics (verbal and neck) in a young man of 24, and review the published cases which can be considered to be of post-traumatic tics. We have found six cases of tics secondary to traumas, all craneo-encephalic, like ours (the one under study). The time interval between the blow and the appearance of the tic or tics varied between 2 weeks and 3 months. The absence of significant lesions seen in the complementary investigations make it impossible for us to discover the site of the lesion caused by the trauma. However, the presence in some cases of other tics before the trauma, and of family histories of tics, supports the idea of a genetic basis or predisposition to suffer this disorder.