ANALYSIS OF CEREBELLAR DYSMETRIA ASSOCIATED WITH LITHIUM INTOXICATION

By contrast to the permanent cerebellar sequelae developing over the w eeks following a lithium intoxication, the cerebellar dysfunction occu rring in the acute phase is poorly documented. In this study, we analy sed the fast and accurate wrist flexion movements and the associated e lectromyographic activities in 6 patients as soon as possible after a lithium intoxication and three months later. Movements were recorded b efore and after increasing the inertial load of the moving hand. Durin g the acute phase of the disease, three patients performed dysmetric m ovements, which became hypermetric when the inertia was increased. In the three other patients, the overshooting of the target which was alr eady observed in the basal condition (no load), was even larger when m asses were added. In all the patients, addition of loads increased the onset latency of the antagonist activity during the acute stage of th e intoxication. Three of the six patients who presented fever renal fa ilure and did not undergo hemodialysis developed permanent cerebellar deficits. The three others who presented no fever, no renal failure an d underwent hemodialysis recovered completely.