title: Quantitative Sensory Testing in adults with Tourette syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Abnormal sensory perceptions, for instance hypersensitivity to certain external stimuli or premonitory urges preceding tics, are core features in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS). Aberrant awareness of externally applied stimuli in terms of altered sensory perception thresholds might contribute to these sensory phenomena in GTS.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used the well-established and standardized "Quantitative Sensory Testing" (QST) battery (German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain) to investigate 13 sensory parameters including thermal, mechanical/tactile and pain thresholds in 14 GTS patients without clinically significant comorbidities and 14 healthy controls matched for age and gender.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no relevant group differences in any of the 13 QST parameters and no specific QST pattern in GTS patients. There was no correlation between QST parameters and "Premonitory Urge for Tics scale" (PUTS) scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data show that the perceptual threshold detection of externally applied sensory stimuli is normal in adults with GTS. This indicates that other perceptual mechanisms, such as abnormal central sensorimotor processing and/or aberrant interoceptive awareness might underlie the clinically significant sensory abnormalities in GTS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: o.schunke@uke.de.
authors.forename: Odette
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schunke
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Wiebke
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Grashorn
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kahl
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schöttle
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Haggard
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric and Adult Movement Disorders and Neuropsychiatry, Institute of Neurogenetics, University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Münchau
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bingel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK; Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology Queen Square, London, UK.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ganos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D005879:Tourette Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Premonitory sensations; Quantitative Sensory Testing; Sensory; Thresholds; Tourette syndrome