Pharmacotherapy for akinesia following anterior communicating artery aneurysm hemorrhage

The dopamine system may be involved in three situations: the nigral projection to the basal ganglia, the mesocortical projection to the anterior cingulate gyrus, or the medial forebrain bundle projection to cortical and limbic sites. Because of the close association of dopamine systems with the known neurological syndromes of akinesia, we elected to treat a patient with akinesia due to rupture of anterior communicating artery (ACA) aneurysm with the dopamine agonist, bromocriptine. This case has important implications for the understanding of brain/behavior relationships as well as for the development of new therapies for patients who have sustained neurological injury.