Paroxysmal non-kinesigenic dyskinesia (PNKD) is a clinical syndrome of sudden involuntary movements, mostly of dystonic type, which may be triggered by alcohol or coffee intake, stress and fatigue. The attacks of PNKD may consist of various combinations of dystonia, chorea, athetosis and balism. They can be partial and unilateral, but mostly the hyperkinetic movements are bilateral and generalized. We present a large Polish family with 7 symptomatic members of the family in 6 generations. In all affected persons, the onset of clinical symptoms was in early childhood. All male cases showed an increase in severity and frequency of the attacks with ageing, while the only living female patient noticed an improvement of PNKD during both her pregnancies and also after menopause. In addition, at the age of 55 years, she developed symptoms of Parkinson's disease with good response to levodopa treatment.
2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.