ATHETOSIS AND THE BASAL GANGLIA

Abstract

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS UNDER the term athetosis,¹ Hammond² (1871) drew attention to a symptom which he believed had not previously been recognized by medical writers. This symptom was described as "an inability to retain the fingers and toes in any position in which they might be placed, and by their continual motion." Two cases, without autopsy, were reported in which "grotesque," involuntary movements of the fingers and toes occurred unilaterally. Prior to introduction of the term athetosis, almost all abnormal involuntary activity was described as chorea³ (Oulmont,⁴ Herz⁵). Charcot⁶ (1853), Heine⁷ (1860) and Little⁸ (1862) reported abnormal involuntary activity in association with hemiplegia and diplegia, which later authors (Oulmont,⁴ Wiszwianski⁹), in retrospect, stated to be similar to that described by Hammond. The first description of what is now called double athetosis was given in 1873 by Shaw¹⁰ from several cases