Tics and fits. The current status of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome and its relationship with epilepsy

The Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) is a neurobehavioural disorder characterized by multiple motor and vocal tics. Accessory symptoms include coprophenomena, echophenomena and obsessive-compulsive behaviours. There is a significant genetic contribution to their aetiology. Simple tics may be mistaken for myoclonic epilepsy and complex tics for complex partial seizures. Like epilepsy, GTS is a brain disorder that leads to general disturbances in behaviour not just the cardinal symptoms (i.e. tics or seizures)