A rare case with diurnal fluctuation of head instability, hypotonia and choreoathetotic movements improved by L-dopa treatment.
This report concerns a 6-year-old girl who showed peculiar symptoms but responded favourably to L-dopa. She developed normally until around 1 year of age, at which time head instability, hypotonia, increased deep tendon reflexes and choreoathetotic movements developed. These symptoms appeared to worsen in the afternoon and were alleviated after sleep. An extremely small dose of L-dopa (2 mg/kg) showed dramatic effects and her symptoms disappeared. This condition may be associated with the supersensitivity of the dopamine receptors, caused by hypofunction of the dopamine neurones.
Yoshikawa
H
H
Division of Child Neurology, National Center Hospital for Mental, Nervous and Muscular Disorders, Tokyo, Japan.
Araki
K
K
Sakuragawa
N
N
Arima
M
M
D002648:Child; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D005260:Female; D006257:Head; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009068:Movement; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009129:Muscle Tonus
D007980:Levodopa