[Clinical characteristics of hereditary ataxia].

Employing the clinical signs of diseases the authors compared characteristics of different hereditary ataxias (Friedreich's ataxia, familial spastic paraplegia, Marie's disease, olivopontocerebellar atrophy, Roussy-Levy syndrome, and Charcot-Marie neural amyotrophy). It is emphasized that clinico-genealogical examination is essential for the identification of the nosological form of the disease.