Yawning in acute anterior circulation stroke.
Pathological yawning can be a clinical sign in disorders affecting the brainstem. Here we describe seven patients with pathological yawning caused by acute middle cerebral artery stroke, indicating that pathological yawning also occurs in supratentorial stroke. We hypothesise that excessive yawning is a consequence of lesions in cortical or subcortical areas, which physiologically control diencephalic yawning centres.
Singer
Oliver C
OC
Department of Neurology, JW Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Schleusenweg 2-16, D-60528 Frankfurt/Main, Germany. o.singer@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Humpich
Marek C
MC
Lanfermann
Heiner
H
Neumann-Haefelin
Tobias
T
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D004027:Diencephalon / Q000503:physiopathology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology; D010286:Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000503:physiopathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D015000:Yawning / Q000502:physiology*