Posttraumatic movement disorders: A clinical and imaging profile of 30 patients

Posttraumatic movement disorders (PTMDs) are frequently associated with severe head injury. There are very few studies on the clinical phenomenology and radiological correlation of PTMD.

To study the clinical phenomenology of patients with PTMD and correlate it with the site of lesion on brain imaging.

This was a prospective study of patients with suspected PTMD. All of these patients underwent neurological evaluation to characterize the phenomenology and imaging, such as computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (CT/MRI), to localize the site of lesion.

The age of the patients was 32.6 ± 16.4 years and the age at onset was 29.1 ± 16.0 years. Right upper limb was the initial body part affected in 36.7% patients. Tremor (alone or with dystonia) was the most common movement disorder (MD; 44.7%) followed by parkinsonism (17.2%), dystonia (13.8%), dystonia plus (dystonia associated with choreoathetosis: 10.3%), mixed MD (more than one MD: 10.3%), and myoclonus (3.4%). MRI was performed in 23 patients and the rest seven patients underwent CT brain. Normal MRI was observed in one patient with parkinsonism. Isolated, discrete lesions were found in six (27.3%) patients. Basal ganglia was the most common site of involvement (66.7%) followed by thalamus (16.7%) and brainstem (16.7%). Diffuse white matter involvement was the most common radiological lesion in patients with tremor.

Our study describes the clinical phenomenology of patients with PTMDs and its radiological correlation. Tremor (alone or in combination with dystonia) was the most common MD observed and diffuse white matter lesions without affection of the basal ganglia was the most common site of lesion.