J Korean Neurol Assoc.  1996 Sep;14(3):861-867.

Causalgia-dystonia Syndrome

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Neurology, Yongdong Severance Hospital, Brain Research Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine.

Abstract

Most movement disorders are caused by the dysfunction of central nervous system, but sometimes involuntary movements may occur as a consequence of peripheral trauma, Patients with hemifacial spasm, segmental myoclonus, edentulous orodyskinesias, amputation stump dyskinesias, tremor and dystonia after peripheral trauma have been reported. Limb dystonia following peripheral trauma has received much renewed interest in recent years. In some patients with limb dystonia associated with peripheral trauma, causalgia or reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) can be accompanied. We report a 70 year-old man who developed painful dystonic muscle spasms in the right hand after a severe injury to the right forearm. Burning pain and signs of sympathetic overactivity were accompanied. Electrophysiologic study showed a complete lesion of the right median nerve. A thermography study revealed decreased heat emission in the right forearm. It has been speculated that injury to the peripheral nerve may cause changes in the spinal cord or cerebral synaptic mechanisms which lead to clinical syndrome of causalgia and dystonia. Conversion reaction and malingering also have been suggested as a plausible cause of syndrome of post-traumatic dystonia.


MeSH Terms

Aged
Amputation Stumps
Burns
Causalgia
Central Nervous System
Conversion Disorder
Dyskinesias
Dystonia
Forearm
Hand
Hemifacial Spasm
Hot Temperature
Humans
Malingering
Median Nerve
Movement Disorders
Myoclonus
Peripheral Nerves
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy
Spasm
Spinal Cord
Thermography
Tremor
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