Isolated head tremor

Abstract

Isolated head tremor (IHT) is a pathological condition characterized by tremor of the head without dystonic posturing or tremor in other parts of the body. In the past, head tremor was commonly referred to as essential tremor because it is very common in families of patients with essential tremor and may precede hand tremor. Several recent observations cast doubt on this theory. The irregular character of the tremor, the low efficacy of the drugs used for essential tremor and the use of botulinum neuroprotein type A with good response point to the dystonic character of the tremor. Neurophysiological evidence for a relationship between IHT and dystonia includes an altered somatosensory temporal discrimination threshold, metabolic changes according to DAT spectrography (positron emission spectrography to determine changes in dopamine levels) and a change in the blink reflex.

Keywords

• head tremor
• essential tremor
• cervical dystonia
• tremor