Electrophysiological Evidence for Functional (Psychogenic) Essential Palatal Tremor

Tremor Other Hyperkinet Mov (N Y). 2020 Jun 17:10:10. doi: 10.5334/tohm.70.

Abstract

Background: There is little published work describing the electrophysiological characteristics of essential palatal tremor, a condition now believed by many to be a functional (psychogenic) movement disorder.

Case report: Here we combine electroencephalography and electromyography with time-locked video recordings to document two cases of essential palatal tremor in which a definitive diagnosis is achieved using these electrophysiological tools.

Discussion: We believe that sharing how these objective tools can be used to diagnose a functional movement disorder, as well as providing more published evidence to support the functional origin of essential palatal myoclonus, will help to diagnose this condition in the future.

Keywords: Bereitschaftspotential; functional; palatal myoclonus; psychogenic; tremor.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
  • Video-Audio Media

MeSH terms

  • Contingent Negative Variation
  • Electroencephalography
  • Electromyography
  • Essential Tremor / physiopathology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Palatal Muscles / physiopathology*
  • Somatoform Disorders / physiopathology*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the NINDS Intramural program at the National Institutes of Health.