Tardive dyskinesia I : clinical and biochemical aspects

Abstract

Tardive dyskinesia is a late side-effect of chronic neuroleptic therapy and is one of a number of disorders of movement secondary to dysfunction in the basal ganglia. The dyskinesias most commonly seen in neurological practice comprise a number of clinical conditions characterised by the spontaneous development of abnormal movements, they include tremor, which is manifest as a rythmic, sinusoidal movement, chorea, manifest as recurrent random continuous brief muscular contractions, myoclonus, characterised by repetitive discrete muscle jerks, and torsion dystonia, with sustained muscle spasm leading to grotesque posturing.