Primary CNS lymphoma presenting as a choreic movement disorder followed by segmental dystonia

Clinical presentation of primary CNS lymphoma with an extrapyramidal movement disorder has not been recorded. A 66-year-old woman presented with chorea involving her left arm and subsequently developed right-sided segmental dystonia with prominent hemifacial dystonic spasms, milder torticollis and dystonia of the right arm. Investigations revealed primary CNS lymphoma with extensive involvement of the right-sided basal ganglia as well as lesions confined to the head of the left caudate nucleus and the corpus callosum. Chorea of her left arm subsided with progressing disease while remission of right-sided segmental dystonia was observed following radiotherapy of the brain. This patient's findings and a review of the literature suggest a possible relation between cranio-cervical dystonia and pathology affecting the head of the caudate nucleus.