[Opsoclonus-ataxia syndrome. Description of a case].

This report describes an 18-year-old woman who, after a febrile illness, developed opsoclonus, truncal ataxia and mild body tremulousness. The oculomotor disorder was documented by electro-oculography. The results of extensive neurological investigations, including CT scan, visual, auditory and somesthetic evoked potentials, nuclear magnetic resonance and complete cerebrospinal fluid evaluation, were negative. The patient recovered completely within about 1 month. After having thoroughly analyzed the pertinent literature, we conclude that the pathogenetic hypothesis of direct encephalitic damage is unproved, and that these peculiar unwanted ocular movements can be explained by assuming an abnormality of "pause" cell control over saccadic "burst" neurons.