Tics secondary to craniocerebral trauma

We describe three adult patients who presented with multifocal motor and vocal tics secondary to craniocerebral trauma. In one case, the tics were accompanied by marked obsessive-compulsive behavior. All patients were involved in motor vehicle accidents resulting in closed craniocerebral trauma. The latency of onset between head trauma and the movement disorder varied between 1 day and a few months. Magnetic resonance imaging, which was performed in all three patients, did not detect any structural lesions of the basal ganglia or the brainstem. Extensive bifrontal leukoencephalopathy was found in one patient who suffered severe head trauma.