DEVELOPMENTS IN ESSENTIAL TREMOR

Abstract

Tremor has been defined as a movement disorder characterized by involuntary, rhythmic, sinusoidal oscillations of a part of the body. Although essential tremor (ΕΤ) has been considered as the most common movement disorder, it has largely remained a diagnosis of exclusion. The clinical spectrum of ET consists of several motor features, including tremor and ataxia, and of several non-motor features, including possible cognitive impairment and personality disturbances. Postmortem studies are revealing several different patterns of pathology. The emerging view is that ET might be a family of diseases, unified by the presence of kinetic tremor, but further characterized by etiological, clinical and pathological heterogeneity. Progress in the therapeutical field is rather limited because of the poor understanding of many of the underlying conditions.