Journal of psychosomatic research
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The pharmacological treatment of Tourette syndrome (TS) has improved due to the application of new medications and combinations of medications, coupled to greater phenomenological and neurobiological understanding of the condition. Nevertheless, for many individuals with TS, potentially troublesome tics persist despite optimized drug treatment. Anecdotally, a relationship is frequently described between tic frequency and states of bodily arousal and/or focused attention. The galvanic skin response (GSR) is an accessible and sensitive index of sympathetic nervous activity, reflecting centrally induced changes in peripheral autonomic arousal. Sympathetic nervous arousal, measured using GSR, has been shown to have an inverse relationship with an electroencephalographic index of cortical excitability (slow cortical potential), and GSR arousal biofeedback shows promise as an adjunctive therapy in management of treatment-resistant epilepsy. ⋯ These findings indicate that the conjunction of focused attention to task and reduced peripheral sympathetic tone inhibits tic expression and suggests a potential therapeutic role of biofeedback relaxation training for tic management in patients with TS.
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Despite the availability of both pharmacological and behavioral therapies for Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (GTS), a subgroup of patients suffer intractable disease and require treatment through non-conservative means. Since 1955, various neurosurgical procedures have been considered as a potential resort for this severely affected sub-group; this article reviews the neurosurgical treatment for GTS, with in-depth discussion on deep brain stimulation (DBS). Internationally, 39 cases of GTS undergoing DBS treatment have been published. ⋯ Patients resorting to surgical measures often carry the additional burden of a diverse range of behavioral disturbances found to significantly impair health-related quality of life; comorbid psychopathologies must be considered when postoperatively evaluating the benefits of DBS. The authors acknowledge that out of the 39 documented cases of GTS treated with DBS, 18 cases originate from Italy; thus, it seems both relevant and pertinent to recount and present the lived Italian experience of that subgroup of GTS treated by DBS, for the first time. Recommendations from such experience are presented.
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Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a rich phenomenology that includes simple and complex motor and vocal tics as well as multiple comorbidities. From a nosological perspective, it is evident that a continuum of tic severity exists, of which TS is the most severe and rare form, while transient tics and chronic tics represent milder forms. ⋯ Data reduction techniques have been used more recently to define a "simple" and "complex" tic symptom clusters or factors. Phenomenologic approaches can be used in TS to guide future pathophysiologic research.