Psychogenic movement disorders in children

Psychogenic gait disorders after mass school vaccination of influenza a

Background and Purpose

Psychogenic movement disorders (PMD) after war or mass vaccination was reported and well known disease entity already. However, we have seldom been met those patients because we don’t have any chance to experience of those events. Recently, influenza A (H1N1) spreads around world, and many countries have a program of mass vaccination of H1N1. Although PMD in adult is well characterized, childhood-onset PMD has not been extensively studied.

Case Reports

We present four children of psychogenic gait disorders (PGDs) after mass school vaccination of H1N1. They had fluctuating weakness and their prognosis was good. We confirmed all patients as PGD by placebo.

Conclusions

Our four cases have two common characteristics. One is that all were young and their prognosis was good. And the other is that all were induced their abnormal gait symptoms after mass school vaccination. We observed that mass PMD has a different characteristics comparing to personal PMD, and PMD in children is differ from adult onset PMD.

Epidemiology and management of essential tremor in children

Essential tremor (ET) is a common, often familial, movement disorder characterized by tremor of the limbs, head, and voice. Epidemiological surveys indicate that up to 5% of the adult population has ET, and 5-30% of adults with ET report symptom onset during childhood. There is, however, little published regarding ET in the pediatric population, and no prospective studies targeted specifically to children. Retrospective studies from subspecialty movement disorder clinics indicate that childhood-onset ET is usually hereditary, begins at a mean age of 6 years, and affects boys three times as often as girls. While ET occasionally results in disability during childhood, only one-quarter of children seeing a neurologist for ET require pharmacotherapy. Small case series suggest that propranolol is effective in approximately 50% of children with ET, but controlled treatment trials are lacking.

Psychogenic movement disorders

Psychogenic movement disorders (PMDs) represent a challenging dilemma for the treating neurologist. The terminology to classify this disorder is confusing and making the diagnosis is difficult. Once the diagnosis has been established, treatment options are limited, and the patient generally does not accept the diagnosis.

Peripherally induced movement disorders

Peripherally induced movement disorders may be defined as involuntary or abnormal movements triggered by trauma to the cranial or peripheral nerves or roots. Although patients often recall some history of trauma before the onset of a movement disorder, determining the true relationship of the disorder to the earlier trauma is often difficult. The pathophysiology of these disorders is reviewed.