Bilateral pedunculopontine nuclei strokes presenting as freezing of gait

Mov Disord. 2008 Mar 15;23(4):616-9. doi: 10.1002/mds.21917.

Abstract

The penduculopontine nucleus (PPN) has been suggested to play an important role in locomotion, based on animal studies, but its function in humans has not been well defined. Autopsy studies have suggested that PPN pathology correlates with gait dysfunction in Parkinson's disease and in progressive supranuclear palsy but direct clinical evidence is lacking. We report a patient with bilateral PPN infarcts whose dominant clinical feature was freezing of gait, thus providing evidence that PPN is involved in human locomotion and that damage to the PPN may lead to abnormal gait.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Cognition Disorders / diagnosis
  • Cognition Disorders / etiology
  • Freezing Reaction, Cataleptic / physiology*
  • Functional Laterality / physiology
  • Gait / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Locomotion / physiology
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Parkinson Disease / diagnosis
  • Parkinson Disease / etiology
  • Parkinson Disease / physiopathology
  • Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus / blood supply
  • Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus / pathology*
  • Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus / physiopathology*
  • Stroke / complications
  • Stroke / pathology*
  • Stroke / physiopathology*
  • Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / diagnosis
  • Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / etiology
  • Supranuclear Palsy, Progressive / physiopathology
  • Videotape Recording