title: Myoclonus: a pragmatic approach.
abstract: Myoclonus is a brief (less than half a second)contraction involving agonist and antagonist muscles, leading to a sudden jerk. It may be a normal phenomenon,as in the so-called 'sleep starts'. When pathological, myoclonus is a symptom of a broad range of neurological and systemic diseases. Alternatively, it may signal non-organic illness (8% of myoclonus is psychogenic). This review provides pragmatic and systematic guidance to the assessment and differential diagnosis of adult patients presenting with myoclonus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, St. George's Hospital, London, SW17 0QT, UK. lozsadi@doctors.org.uk
authors.forename: Dora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lozsadi
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D019468:Disease Management; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D009207:Myoclonus / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology