Essential tremor is a neurodegenerative disease

Abstract

There are many lines of evidence supporting the idea that essential tremor is more than simply a monosymptomatic disorder and that all the clinical manifestations of this frequent disorder are sustained by a neurodegenerative process. The most important lines of evidence in favor of a neurodegenerative nature of essential tremor are: the anatomic and neuroimaging data demonstrating a pathologic process involving the cerebellum and/or brainstem; the progression of symptom severity with disease duration; and the lack of spontaneous remission of this condition. All of this evidence is supported by recent studies that are summarized in this review.