Clonus: an unusual delayed neurological complication in electrical burn injury

Patients surviving high-voltage electrical injury may have early and delaye d sequelae. The most apparent neurological complications are known to be ce rebral injury, spinal cord lesions, peripheral-nerve injuries and motor neu ropathies. In this study, clonus, which is an unusual late neurological seq uela in an electrical burn patient and presented as series of rhythmic, mon ophasic contractions and relaxations of a group of muscles, is presented. P ossible mechanisms of this unusual late sequela and the clinical outcome of the patient are discussed. Ankle and patellar clonus was observed in 4 pat ients and uvular clonus in 1 patient. Clonus started 3 weeks following the injury in our patients and disappeared over a period of 1 yr in 2 patients, and did not disappear in the remaining 2 patients. In the current literatu re, this is the first report, which presents an unusual sequela following e lectrical injury. Clonus should also be considered a specific type of neuro logical sequela following high- or super-voltage electric injury. This may help to inform the patients in the postinjury period and to improve the eff icacy of the rehabilitation of the victims. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd a nd ISBI. All rights reserved.