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Chapter 42 - Myoclonus

from Section 3: - Hyperkinetic Movement Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2025

By
Ashley B. Peña
Edited by
Erik Ch. Wolters  and
Christian R. Baumann
Erik Ch. Wolters
Affiliation:
Universität Zürich
Christian R. Baumann
Affiliation:
Universität Zürich
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Summary

Myoclonus is defined as a sudden, brief, lightning-like involuntary movement that is caused by muscle contraction (positive myoclonus) or sudden inhibition of muscle contraction (negative myoclonus). It presents a challenging picture for several reasons. (1) There is a vast array of clinical presentations, which makes even the identification of myoclonus difficult. (2) Myoclonus is a clinical symptom, for which there are numerous causes. (3) There are multiple pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying myoclonus. For these reasons, there are several classification schemes and the differential diagnosis is broad. Further, treatment of myoclonus is hampered by a scarcity of large-scale randomized studies. As such, it is difficult to identify a unified and comprehensive approach to clinical evaluation and treatment of myoclonus. Although there is presently no consensus as to the ideal method of classifying or clinically approaching myoclonus, the various classification schemes each incorporate important aspects of myoclonus with the goal of devising an optimal treatment strategy.

Keywords

Etiologic/anatomic/clinical classificationmyoclonus–dystonia syndromeopsoclonus–myoclonus syndromestartle syndromespropriospinal/subcortical segmental/peripheral myoclonus
Type
Chapter
Information
International Compendium of Movement Disorders , pp. 523 - 539
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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