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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Mov Disord. 2017 Jan 24;32(3):325–331. doi: 10.1002/mds.26919

Table 1.

Essential, Primary, Senile, and Idiopathic: Covering gaps in knowledge

Early nomenclature Revised nomenclature Implication
Primary dystonia Isolated dystonia “Primary”: not reliable for
etiology
Essential myoclonus Myoclonus dystonia54
Benign hereditary chorea55
“Essential myoclonus”
encompassed a syndrome
Essential palatal
tremor
Isolated palatal tremor
including special skills,
functional palatal tremor
and tics56, 57
“Essential” included other
recognizable palatal tremors
Senile gait Highest-level gait disorder
Parkinsonian gait
“Senile”58 wrongly implied
changes due to normal aging
Senile chorea Most often late-onset
Huntington disease,
antiphospholipid antibody
syndrome, hypocalcemia, or
tardive dyskinesia59
“Senile” chorea wrongly
suggests it may be due to
normal aging
Idiopathic
Parkinson’s disease
PARK1, 2, 4, 7, 8…
Ongoing genetic-molecular
phenotyping
“Idiopathic” becomes an ever
narrowing slice of PD, as
genetic/molecular etiologies
are unveiled