Generalized Myoclonus

Abstract

Movement disorders have been reported as rare complications of stroke. The basal ganglia have been implicated in the pathophysiology of most post-stroke dyskinesias. We outline different types of post-stroke myoclonus and their possible pathophysiology. A middle-aged man developed generalized myoclonus after an ischemic stroke in the superior midbrain and subthalamic nuclei. Spontaneous resolution was seen by 72 hours. A lesion to the subthalamic nuclei disrupted the normal thalamic inhibition, which likely led to the involuntary movements seen in our patient. In this case, myoclonus was generalized, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not been reported in the literature as a direct consequence of focal stroke.