Familial Adult-Onset Spinocerebellar Degenerations

Abstract

The familial spinocerebellar degenerations are a heterogeneous group of disorders with onset in both childhood and adulthood. Their prevalence is estimated to be between 1.5 and 22.1 per 100,000. Although pathologic and clinical classification systems have been proposed in the past, all have had shortcomings. In the past several years, great strides in genetics have radically changed our thinking about the classification, and thus clinical presentation, of these disorders. In this chapter, we concentrate on the adult-onset familial ataxias.