Thalamic hand dystonia: an MRI anatomoclinical study

Focal dystonia has been attributed to lesions involving the basal ganglia a nd/or thalamus. Hand dystonia was studied in a patient with a unilateral th alamic infarction documented by MRI. A 18-year-old girl presented with seve re isolated dystonia of the right hand as a sequel of perinatal infarction. MRI scan revealed infarction affecting part of the dorsomedian, lateral po sterior, ventral lateral, ventral posterior lateral nuclei, and centromedia n-parafascicular nucleus of the contralateral thalamus. The unique MRI anat omoclinical presentation of this case, taken together with the literature d ata, could provide evidence that a lesion affecting one or several thalamic nuclei, including the centromedian nucleus, can induce hand dystonia.