In the literature, minipolymyoclonus has been described in disorders with AHC involvement, such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) [
1,
20], brachial monomelic amyotrophy [
21,
22], bulbospinal muscular atrophy [
8], and syringomyelia (secondary AHC involvement) [
23], as well as in congenital nemaline myopathy [
24]. Quivering or rippling movements of the intrinsic hand muscles resembling polyminimyoclonus have also been described in disorders of peripheral nerve hyperexcitability, such as anti-CASPR2-associated paraneoplastic Morvan syndrome [
25]. On the other hand, it has been well documented in central neurodegenerative disorders such as multisystem atrophy parkinsonian type (MSA-P) [
26-
28], Alzheimer’s disease [
29,
30] and Parkinson’s disease [
31,
32]. Wilkins et al. [
30] described minipolymyoclonus in epileptic disorders such as Lennox- Gastaut syndrome, progressive myoclonic epilepsy, absence seizure, Down’s syndrome and cerebral palsy. Quinn highlighted this jerky postural tremor as a ‘red-flag sign’ in parkinsonism that favors the diagnosis of MSA [
33], which has been further emphasized in recent studies [
34]. A small-amplitude unilateral-onset ‘jerky tremor’ has also been described in CBD, even prior to the development of more classic clinical signs [
11].
Clinically, minipolymyoclonus of peripheral and central origin can be differentiated by examining ‘the company they keep’, such as peripheral denervation for the peripheral variant and atypical or typical parkinsonism and epilepsy for the central variant [
35]. However, electrophysiological data on minipolymyoclonus are limited in the literature compared to myoclonus. In some of these studies, cortical [
28,
30,
31] or subcortical [
29] correlates of this entity have been described by jerk-locked back averaging or EEG-EMG coherence analysis, while no such correlates were found in other studies [
27]. Wilkins et al., [
30] in their description of minipolymyoclonus, noted a slow negative bi-frontocentral cortical wave preceding the onset of minipolymyoclonus by 40–60 ms. However, Ikeda et al. [
2] demonstrated a cortical correlate spike in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex, preceding myoclonic movement by a shorter duration (15.4–20.8 ms). In Alzheimer’s disease, Hallett and Wilkins [
29] suspected that the activity of ‘subcortical generator’ was responsible for ‘bifrontal negativity in the EEG that precedes the myoclonic jerk,’ the electrophysiological correlate of minipolymyoclonus. In MSA-P, Salazar et al. [
27] noted synchronous bursts and silent periods of EMG discharges from the forearm and hand muscles, varying in duration and amplitude but lasting less than 100 ms. Fast Fourier transform spectrum analysis of the accelerometric recording did not show any predominant frequency (in contrast to tremor). Enhanced long-latency EMG responses were noted in response to cutaneous stimulation at 50–63 ms (similar to reflex myoclonus), but they were accompanied by normal somatosensory evoked potentials and EEG, without any back-averaged cortical correlates. Thus, Salazar et al. [
27] were uncertain of the origin of minipolymyoclonus in MSA. Grippe et al. [
36] have described minipolymyoclonus as “an irregular 1–20 Hz activity with muscle synchronous bursts of 25–50 ms in duration” that can arise from a peripheral or central generator. However, peripherally originating minipolymyoclonus from degenerating motor neurons generally has an EMG burst duration of < 20 ms, similar to a typical motor unit potential [
8,
37]. In contrast, centrally originating minipolymyoclonus typically has a burst duration of < 100 ms (typically 20–50 ms) [
30]. In an EEG-EMG correlation study, cortically originating minipolymyoclonus should have time-locked cortical potential that is absent in the case of peripheral origin.