Abstract

We present two women with Meige's syndrome, a condition in which the clinical presentation differs from tardive dyskinesia by the lack of exposure to neuroleptic drgus, greater severity of blepharospasms, and more prolonged dystonic contractions of oromandibular muscles. In this condition we used triaxial accelerometry to detect dystonia, which may also appear in limb and respiratory muscles. Although psychologic factors may affect the symptoms, the basic pathogenesis of this syndrome does not seem to be psychogenic. We think that biochemical abnormalities in the basal ganglia are responsible for the dyskinesias and submit data suggesting a reduction of dopamine turnover in the central nervous system of one patient. Both patients have evidence of autoimmune diseases, and one patient's dystonic movements responded to immunosuppressive therapy, suggesting that autoimmune processes contribute to the pathogenic mechanism of Meige's syndrome in some instances.