Paroxysmal dystonia due to a lesion of the cervical cord: case report

A 48 year old woman complained of mild weakness and paresthesias of the left limbs, followed 15 days later by episodes of paroxysmal dystonia of the left limbs occurring several times daily over 10 day period. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of head and neck revealed a small area of altered signal in the T2-weighted sequences in the left posterolateral quadrant of the cord at the second cervical vertebra. An MRI scan 18 months later showed no lesion. This is the second case of paroxysmal dystonia with a single MRI lesion in the cervical region on record.