Article type: Letter to Editor
Article
title: Dystonia and asterixis in acute thalamic infarct: proposed mechanism
Journal: Annals of Movement Disorders
Year: 2019
Authors: Jamir Pitton Rissardo, Ana Letícia Fornari
Caprara
E-mail: jamirrissardo@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Dystonia is characterized by involuntary sustained muscle contractions, causing twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures. Also, it is the second most common movement disorder after a stroke, representing approximately one in every five cases. Asterixis could be described as negative myoclonus, caused by an intermittent failure in maintaining sustained muscle contraction. We hypothesized that the concomitant occurrence of dystonia and asterixis probably occurred due to a lesion in the ventrolateral nucleus of the thalamus. The pathophysiology of dystonia can be explained by the interruption in the cortico-striato-pallido-thalamo-cortical loop. A study by Mitchell et al described that a lesion in the pathways that lead to the thalamus might interrupt the direct and indirect pathways. However, the indirect pathway subactivity could probably predominate, and this disruption could increase the thalamocortical drive and eventually could lead to dystonia.
Keywords: Dystonia, asterixis, thalamus, myoclonus, pathophysiology
Full text
available at:
DOI
10.4103/AOMD.AOMD_22_19
Citation
Rissardo JP, Caprara
AL. Dystonia and asterixis in acute thalamic infarct: proposed mechanism.
Ann Mov Disord 2019;2:138-9
