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STEPHEN LEAVITT, MD; H. RICHARD TYLER, MD

Arch Neurol. 1964;10(4):360-368.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Although the sudden flap, or lapse of posture, known as "asterixis" has become familiar as a distinct entity, its classic descriptions have always encompassed more than one form of abnormality.

In 1949 Adams and Foley¹ described a "fixed tremor state" in certain patients with liver disease.

Two years later the same authors referred to the phenomena as a "motor disturbance—so unique that it merits a more complete description" (Adams and Foley, 1951).² They then suggested that two abnormalities existed, one a "tremor" and the other a "lapse of posture," which they called asterixis.

Their description of an electromyographic record suggests a possible interrelationship between the tremor and flap.

Davidson,⁴ writing in 1955, used the term "tremor," as Adams and Foley¹ had in 1949, to describe "an arrhythmic, rapid flexion and then restoration...." He described the associated abnormality as an "irregular lateral movement" that often appeared before . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
BOSTON

Footnotes
Submitted for publication Oct 3, 1963; accepted Dec 4.

Junior Assistant Resident in Medicine, Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, NY, Visiting Fellow in Neurology, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston (Dr. Leavitt); Senior Associate in Medicine, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Associate in Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Dr. Tyler).

This investigation was supported in part by Public Health Research Grant No. FR-05185-01.

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