Motor-speech disorders in a patient with a vertebrobasilar stroke affected by coronavirus infection (clinical observation)

Abstract

Amidst the growing coronavirus infection (COVID-19) pandemic, there is increasing evidence of the development of neurological complications of this disease and, especially, acute cerebrovascular accidents, and what is more, an increase in incidence rates of strokes is noted in the patients under the age of 50, who did not have risk factors for cerebrovascular diseases. The article examines several potential mechanisms that determine the relationships between ischemic stroke and COVID-19. A clinical case of the development of ischemic stroke in the vertebrobasilar system affected by the coronavirus infection is presented. The causal relationship between coronavirus infection and vascular catastrophe is discussed. In the described case, COVID-19 contributed to the decompensation of the patient’s associated risk factors. A feature of the described case is the delayed development of a rare motor disorder in the form of Holmes tremor and combined speech disorders (dysarthria and aftereffects of motor aphasia) in the patient. Holmes tremor is an unusual type of tremor characterized by a combination of rest, postural, and action tremors that predominantly affects the proximal limbs. This symptom is named after the British neurologist Gordon Holmes, who described a series of cases of an unusual variant of tremulous hyperkinesis in 1904. The article discusses the pathogenesis issues of the development of this condition and provides clinical criteria for Holmes tremor. This is a rather rare symptom, there are no data on large studies of this disorder in the literature, and it is mainly described in small series of clinical cases. The efficacy of Akatinol Memantine in the treatment of post-stroke speech disorders is discussed, and the rationale for prescribing this drug in the management of patients with post-stroke speech disorders is presented.