Posthemiplegic shoulder-hand syndrome, with special reference to related cerebral localization

Seven autopsy cases of shoulder-hand syndrome following hemiplegia were studied with regard to cerebral localization. One of them showed an isolated brain lesion in the premotor area due to a metastasis from malignant melanoma. Four other cases with cerebral infarction and one with glioblastoma multiforme showed massive brain lesions involving the frontal and parietal lobe cortex in the area supplied by the middle cerebral artery. The seventh case showed a hemorrhagic cerebral lesion in the lentiform nucleus. The most common overlap area in 6 of the 7 cases was located in the premotor region including the anterior part of the motor region. The shoulder-hand syndrome following hemiplegia always develops on the side contralateral to the brain lesion which might cause a unilateral longstanding autonomic dysfunction. As corroborated in a review of the relevant literature, a lesion in the premotor area appears chiefly responsible for the primary mechanism of the shoulder-hand syndrome in post-stroke hemiplegia.