Other
Tic assessment
Treatment
Psychological interventions
A group therapy study compared CBIT to a control condition with education about tics \citep{33415472}. Group CBIT better reduced tics, especially at 3 months aer the intervention. Children with behavioral problems had less improvement, whereas higher intellectual functioning portended better results. This report adds to previous suggestions that group therapy—which can reach more patients at lower cost—is an effective way to deliver CBIT.
Homework compliance predicts CBIT treatment success \citep{33770556}.
Mechanisms Underlying Behavior Therapy for Touretteʼs Disorder \citep{Essoe_2021}.
(include?) A pilot study of online mindfulness-based group therapy for adults with tic disorders showed that it was feasible, but with lower adherence to prescribed homework than expected, and only 2 of 5 showed any meaningful improvement \citep{33757602}.
Medication
The European clinical guidelines for Tourette syndrome were updated (version 2.0) with regard to pharmacological treatments \citep{Roessner2021}.
A number of randomized controlled studies have investigated the potential efficacy of new (extended release) VMAT2 inhibitors for the treatment of tics. To date, the mother compound, tetrabenazine, has been used largely off label for tic treatment in the absence of clear cut evidence derived from high quality clinical studies. Alas, both deutetrabenazine \citep{Coffey2021}\citep{Jankovic2021}and valbenazine failed to meet primary endpoints in their respective studies \citep{Farber2021}.
An interesting case series on six children/adolescents with aggressive behaviors in which lurasidone, a novel antipsychotic, was added to either aripiprazole or risperidone, and helped diminish these manifestions, with good tolerance 33$$\citep{Colizzi2021}.
Bloch MH, Landeros-Weisenberger A, Johnson JA, Leckman JF. A Phase-2 Pilot Study of a Therapeutic Combination of Δ<sup>9</sup>-Tetrahydracannabinol and Palmitoylethanolamide for Adults With Tourette's Syndrome. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2021 Fall;33(4):328-336. doi: 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.19080178.
Epub 2021 Aug 3. PMID: 34340527.
Billnitzer A, Jankovic J. Pilot Study to Evaluate Pimavanserin for the
Treatment of Motor and Behavioral Symptoms of Tourette Syndrome. Mov Disord Clin Pract. 2021 Apr 7;8(5):694-700. doi: 10.1002/mdc3.13207. PMID: 34307741; PMCID: PMC8287163.
Müller-Vahl KR, Fremer C, Beals C, Ivkovic J, Loft H, Schindler C. Monoacylglycerol Lipase Inhibition in Tourette Syndrome: A 12-Week, Randomized, Controlled Study. Mov Disord. 2021 Oct;36(10):2413-2418. doi: 10.1002/mds.28681.
Epub 2021 Jun 12. PMID: 34117788.