Objective: To review the prevalence of various movement disorders in post stroke patients at a tertiary, academic center and to characterize the therapeutic response to various treatments in those patients.

Background: Movement disorders have been noted in patients post stroke, however there is limited information regarding the prevalence of various post-stroke movement disorders and their response to potential treatments.

Method: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients seen in both the stroke and movement disorder clinics at our academic center. 147 cases were reviewed, and 30 were found to have a movement disorder that developed post stroke. We reviewed the type of movement disorder, mean latency between time of stroke and movement disorder onset, as well as the response to treatment in various movement disorders.

Results: Of the 30 patients reviewed, parkinsonism was noted in 60%, tremor in 23.3%, ataxia in 6.7%, and myoclonus, dystonia, and restless leg syndrome were each noted in 3.3%. The mean latency from stroke to movement disorder onset was 0.61 years. Of the patient’s with parkinsonism, 16/18 were tried on either carbidopa-levodopa and/or a dopamine agonist, with 87.5% showing benefit to treatment. There were 11 parkinsonism patients tried on carbidopa-levodopa, with 81.8% demonstrating benefit. A dopamine agonist was tried in 2 of the parkinsonism patients, with both noting benefit). A combination of carbidopa-levodopa and dopamine agonist was tried in 3 parkinsonism patients, with all noting benefit. The tremor group patients were tried on various therapies, however each respective patient tried on primidone, topiramate, or implanted with DBS showed improvement.

Conclusion: Post stroke movement disorders were seen in post stroke patients, with a mean latency of 0.61 years. The largest subgroup in this study was patients with parkinsonism, in which 87.5% of patients showed improvement with carbidopa-levodopa and/or dopamine agonist therapy. Patients in the tremor group started on medical therapy or implanted with DBS also showed improvement.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/movement-disorders-in-post-stroke-patients-a-retrospective-analysis/