Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and ocular flutter

Abstract

A previously unreported association of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and ocular flutter is presented. It is hypothesized that initial loss of brainstem inhibitory interneurons resulted in disinhibition of burst interneurons and that the ocular flutter subsequently disappeared as burst interneurons also became affected by the disease process. The association adds clinical evidence of involvement of brainstem interneurons to other evidence of involvement of neurons other than motor neurons in the disease process.

Key words::

• Ocular flutter
• motor neuron disease
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• burst interneurons
• square wave jerks

Acknowledgements

AMB and BS are supported by the MRC (UK) and the Academy of Medical Sciences. We thank Mary Faldon (Neuro-otology Unit) for the eye movement recordings and the figure.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.