[Frontal cortical infarction and contralateral postural and international tremor].

BACKGROUND

Movement disorders, when caused by ischemic stroke, may appear as initial manifestation or after a variable interval of time. Among postictal movement disorders tremor is an uncommon manifestation. Holmes' tremor, which is a mixed tremor, is the most frequent type of tremor after stroke. It is associated to infarcts of various localizations like mesencephalon, pons, cerebellum, and thalamus. Cortical infarct is exceptional as a cause of tremor.

METHODS

A sixty-three-year-old woman, with hypertension, who, 2 weeks after a cortical infarct located in the precentral circunvolution of the left frontal lobe, presented with a postural and intention tremor of low frequency (4 Hz) and high amplitude at the right arm. Tremor is still present 2 years after stroke and it has improved partially after treatment with clonazepam.

CONCLUSIONS

Frontal cortical infarcts may cause a contralateral postural and intentional tremor. It usually appears after a time interval. Tremor physiopathology may be related, in these cases, to interruption of the inhibitory fronto-subcortical motor circuit.