Persistent hand spasm: movement disorder or seizure?
Dystonia is a movement disorder characterized by involuntary, sustained or repetitive, patterned muscle contractions or spasms, frequently causing squeezing and twisting movements or abnormal postures. Dystonic posturing could be one of the accompanying features of epilepsy. We report an elderly lady with intractable focal seizure who presented with more than a year of persistent hand spasms. The clinical importance of differentiating epilepsy from movement disorders is discussed.
De Silva
Deidre A
DA
Department of Neurology, Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, 169608, Singapore. grndsd@sgh.com.sg
Lim
Shih-Hui
SH
Tan
Eng-King
EK
D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004421:Dystonia / Q000175:diagnosis; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013035:Spasm / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013226:Status Epilepticus / Q000175:diagnosis; D014743:Videotape Recording