Involuntary jerking movements, especially in the hands, best elicited by having the patient extend the arms, dorsiflex the wrists, and spread the fingers; due to arrhythmic lapses of sustained posture; seen primarily with various metabolic and toxic encephalopathies, especially hepatic encephalopathy. SYN: flapping tremor. [G. a- priv. + sterixis, fixed position]
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as·te·rix·is .as-tə-'rik-sis n a motor disorder characterized by jerking movements (as of the outstretched hands) and associated with various encephalopathies due esp. to faulty metabolism
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as·ter·ix·is (as″tər-ikґsis) [a-1 + Gr. stērixis a fixed position] a motor disturbance marked by intermittent lapse of an assumed posture, as a result of intermittency of the sustained contraction of groups of muscles, a characteristic of hepatic coma but observed also in numerous other conditions; called also liver flap and flapping tremor.Medical dictionary. 2011.