Basal ganglia infarction as a possible cause of cervical dystonia

Cervical dystonia (CD) is usually an idiopathic disorder that results in abnormal movements and painful postures of the neck. Although symptomatic CD caused by focal CNS lesions has been described in the literature, it is an exceedingly rare phenomenon. We report two women who had an abrupt onset of CD at the ages of 39 and 68 years. Each patient had rotation of the head to the right and was found to have a lacunar infarction in the left putamen on magnetic resonance imaging scan. The abrupt onset of symptoms and appropriate location and laterality of the cerebral lesions suggest an etiologic link between the infarctions and the patients' CD. These cases are the first reports of CD possibly caused by basal ganglia infarction.