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PASMODIC torticollis is a neuromuscular disorder characterized by uncontrollable clonic or intermittently tonic spasm of various neck muscles, producing bizarre, variable head postures. The condition apparently is usually caused by striatal disease or is a localized fragment of a more generalized dystonic process. Although the disorder is commonly believed to be psychogenic, in our experience this etiology has been very rare. Considerable effort has been directed toward attacking the syndrome by producing lesions in the central nervous system, but the results have not been as successful as in the case of parkinsonism. More commonly, treatment has been directed at the effector mechanisms through partial denervations of the neck muscles. A variety of denervations have been performed, and in 1965 Sorensen and Hamby *,2 reported the results of such operations performed on 71 patients at the Cleveland Clinic between July, 1946, and January, 1964. Among these patients the best results were obtained in a group of 25 whose denervations consisted of bilateral section of the spinal root of the spinal accessory nerve, and bilateral anterior C-1 to C-3 rhizotomy. Sixteen of the 25 patients were well satisfied with the results. Subsequently a second series of 80 patients have been so treated. The records of 50 consecutive patients treated by this method between May, 1964, and February, 1967, furnish the basis for this report. Case Material The present series extending from May, 1964, to February, 1967, comprised 50 cases, including 21 men and 29 women. Their ages at the onset of symptoms ranged

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