[Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome].

The author describes the Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome. He also reports on a patient in whom the complete pattern of signs of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome became manifest only in adulthood (after he was past 35 years of age). This complete pattern of signs included multiple facial and vocal tics with generalised motor tics and coprolalia, voluntary control over these signs for a few minutes and chronic progress with varying intensity of the overall pattern. Previous reports on late manifestations of the syndrome had not been recognised and accepted as typical, so that the onset in childhood between 2 and 15 years of age is considered a diagnostic criterion of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome. However, in view of the case presented here, the author suggests that, although onset of this syndrome in adulthood is certainly rare, it cannot be excluded as impossible.