1. Unilateral Holmes tremor, clearly responsive to cerebrospinal fluid release, in a patient with an ischemic midbrain lesion and associated chronic hydrocephalic ventricle enlargement
- Author
-
Frank Hertel, Martin Bettag, Christian Decker, Edward Erken, Mark Züchner, Stefani Libri, and Marion Schmitt
- Subjects
Male ,Deep brain stimulation ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Neurological disorder ,Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt ,Brain Ischemia ,Cerebral Ventricles ,Midbrain ,Holmes tremor ,Lesion ,Atrophy ,Recurrence ,Tremor ,Humans ,Medicine ,Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Magnetic resonance imaging ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,nervous system diseases ,Hydrocephalus ,Electrophysiology ,Treatment Outcome ,Anesthesia ,medicine.symptom ,business - Abstract
✓ The authors describe a 58-year-old man with sudden onset of a unilateral tremor caused by a midbrain lesion that affected the substantia nigra and the cerebellothalamic pathway. There were also clinical and neuroimaging signs of a communicating chronic hydrocephalus. The patient was severely handicapped by this tremor, which was a typical Holmes tremor with rest, posture, and intention components. Parkinson disease or multiple-system atrophy as causes for the tremor could be ruled out by DaTSCAN and 123I iodobenzamide and single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT), respectively. The tremor was completely supressed by temporary and permanent cerebrospinal fluid release after ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement, without any additional medication, for a period of 6 months. Afterward, the tremor returned, and the patient had to be treated by a stereotactic electrode implantation in the contralateral ventralis intermedius nucleus, which led to complete tremor suppression during the 1.5-year follow-up period. In this case report, the authors present the clinical description and the electrophysiological, SPECT, and magnetic resonance imaging data of a rare combination of symptoms and their surgical treatment.
- Published
- 2006
- Full Text
- View/download PDF