Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome with direct evidence of organicity.

A severe manifestation of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome (GTS) which developed about six months subsequent to angiographic complications is reported. Acute, post-angiographically derived neuropsychiatric symptoms which continually bridged the interval between central damage suffered, and the final onset of GTS strongly favored the case for underlying organicity. This case probably represents the first direct report of preceding brain lesion triggering off GTS and negates previous trends to attribute psychogenic causes to GTS. As to pathophysiologic mechanisms possibly governing hyperkinesias common in GTS, the neuronal functional rules of denervation and denervation supersensitivity are applied to striatal dopamine-facilitated nerve cell populations.