Spasmodic dysphonia associated with a left ventrolateral putaminal lesion.
A 34-year-old man presented with a 30-year history of spasmodic dysphonia. He developed a speech disturbance 1 month after a closed head injury due to a fall. Sighing, coughing, and crying were normal. He had a tremor of the right hand when he drew a vertical line. His out-stretched right hand had a minimal dystonic posture with occasional jerks of the fingers. T1-weighted axial brain MRI study showed a low signal intensity lesion at the putamen; coronal and axial T2-weighted MRI brain scans showed a high and low signal intensity lesion confined to the middle part of the ventrolateral putamen. Damage to the ventrolateral putamen may have caused abnormal voluntary control of the laryngeal muscles.
Lee
M S
MS
Department of Neurology, Youngdong Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
S B
SB
Kim
W C
WC
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011699:Putamen / Q000473:pathology*; D013035:Spasm / Q000473:pathology*; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000473:pathology*