Abstract
Head trauma is a well-recognized but infrequent cause of dystonia. Both hemidystonia and torticollis have been identified following head injury: Most patients (70%) are men who have sustained severe head trauma with loss of consciousness. The common presentation is that of acute hemiplegia followed by the delayed appearance of limb dystonia. The amount of delay may not correlate with severity of the initial hemiparesis. Dystonia tends to progress as hemiparesis regresses. The onset of dystonia may occur only days after trauma but sometimes is delayed for as long as 6 years. Delayed onset is usually longer in children where it may occur as a consequence of perinatal brain trauma.
This chapter contains a video segment which can be found at the URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-426-5_45
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Krauss JK, Mohadjer M, Braus DF, et al. Dystonia following head trauma: a report of nine patients and review of the literature. Mov Disord. 1992;7:263–72.
Frei KP, Pathak M, Jenkins S, et al. Natural history of posttraumatic cervical dystonia. Mov Disord. 2004;19:1492–8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Electronic Supplementary material
Secondary hemidystonia head trauma.mp4 (MP4 23,958KB)
An irregular and jerky large amplitude tremor is present in the right arm at rest which is worse with action. The patient also exhibits right hemidystonia which is most prominent in the right arm. The abnormal right arm posture is present at rest and becomes worse with action. Right facial pulling and mild right foot dystonia are also present. Mild right rotational torticollis is present together with hypertrophy of right sternocleidomastoid muscle. Gait is normal except for distal tremor in right arm and flexion dystonia at right wrist.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bhidayasiri, R., Tarsy, D. (2012). Secondary Hemidystonia Following Head Trauma. In: Movement Disorders: A Video Atlas. Current Clinical Neurology. Humana, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-426-5_45
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-426-5_45
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-60327-425-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-60327-426-5
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)