EPISODIC PAIN ASSOCIATED WITH A TUMOR IN THE PARIETAL OPERCULUM - A CASE-REPORT AND LITERATURE-REVIEW

We report a young woman suffering brief painful episodes in her right arm which sometimes spread to the whole right side of her body. The ep isodes were initially rare, but over 13 months they became increasingl y frequent until occurring every 20 min. Neurological examination was normal. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a lesion in the white matt er of the parietal operculum. Lesions in the parietal operculum associ ated with persisting thalamic pain or loss of pain sensation have been reported, but rarely with episodic pain. Since episodic painful attac ks have been described in association with various suprathalamic lesio ns, we conclude that paroxysmal pain attacks may be another consequenc e of the disturbance of the normal pattern of thalamocortical connecti ons to the second sensory cortical area by a lesion, in our case, of t he subcortical area of the parietal operculum. (C) 1997 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.