Since last year’s meeting of the European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome (ESSTS), the Society has assigned four working groups with TS experts to review the following areas; Assessment, Investigation, Pharmacological management, Psychological therapies and Deep Brain Stimulation, with the future aim to produce a European Clinical Guidelines for TS. Representatives of these working groups gave presentations in Budapest on their progress. The European TS Clinical Guidelines would be streamlined across countries as much as possible, and also serve as the inclusion criteria for new countries who wish to join the network.

An update from the new so called TSGeneSEE project (The Southern and Eastern Europe TS genetics Initiative) was also on the agenda, and a presentation about this was given by Dr Perry Paschou from Democritus University in Greece. The project is funded by the Tourettes Syndrome Association USA and involves 7 countries. Blood samples of patients with TS are sent from these countries to a research centre in Greece for further genetic analysis, to try and identify genes which could be involved in TS.

The delegates discussed further how to secure funding for European collaborative research and projects such as the Clinical Guidelines and a European Case Registry. It was also announced that there will be a Streptococci workshop for consultants and researchers in London on 22-23 October, funded by the European Science Foundation. The next ESSTS meeting will be held sometime next spring.