Seven cases of Gilles de la tourette's syndrome: partial relief with clonazepam: a pilot study.

The histories of seven consecutive cases of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome are presented to exemplify the range of clinical manifestations in this disease and to collate preliminary results with the new benzodiazepine, clonazepam, as possible adjuvant therapy of this disorder. Controlled trials with clonazepam alone and in association with haloperidol are now justified. Five of our 7 patients had a positive family history of tics, and 2 a confirmed family history of gout. Because clonazepam improves myoclonia and tics and because its mechanism of action possibly involves serotonin, we thought it worthwhile to study simultaneously the relative roles of serotonin and dopamine metabolism in the production of tics, and their relationship to possible defects in purine metabolism in Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome.