Contributions of Charcot and Marsden to the development of movement disorders in the 19th and 20th centuries

Abstract

Charcot described many neurological diseases in the 19th century, particularly in movement disorders.Charcot contributed in the clinical description of Parkinson's disease, and introduced its first pharmacological treatment. He also studied the hyperkinesias, e.g. of Tourette syndrome, differential diagnosis of tremors, dystonias, choreas and startle disease. Marsden, who died recently, was an exponent in the study of Movement Disorders, with many publications in this field in the 20th century. His most important contributions are definitions and classifications of movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, dystonia, myoclonus, essential tremor, the description of the syndromes "Painful Legs Moving Toes", "Gait Ignition Failure" and "Primary Writing Tremor". The contributions of Charcot in the 19th century and Marsden in the 20th century to the movement disorders allow us to conclude that both of them were the most representative icons in this field in the past two centuries.