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Fasciculation-cramp syndrome preceding anterior horn cell disease: an intermediate syndrome?
  1. Mamede de Carvalho1,
  2. Michael Swash1,2
  1. 1Department of Neurosciences and Institute of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
  2. 2Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Professor M de Carvalho, Department of Neurosciences, Santa Maria Hospital, Ave Egas Moniz, 1649 035 Lisbon, Portugal; mamedemg{at}mail.telepac.pt

Abstract

Cramp-fasciculation syndrome (cramp-FS) is an ill-defined condition with uncertain clinical limits. The authors studied a 55-year-old man with progressively more severe, widespread fasciculations and cramps during a 6-year-period. Mild progressive lower motor neuron loss, shown by motor unit number and multi-motor unit potential (MUP) analysis, developed during the 4 years after onset, which stabilised during a further 2-year follow-up. Cramp-FS is generally a benign syndrome, probably with several causations. Our patient developed a limited form of anterior horn cell degeneration perhaps representing a syndrome transitional with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Cramp-FS merits more detailed study.

  • After-discharges
  • amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • cramp-fasciculation syndrome
  • fasciculations
  • myokymia
  • EMG
  • motor neuron disease
  • ALS

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Footnotes

  • Funding This work was supported by ‘Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia’—PIC/IC/82765/2007.

  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.