The syndrome of delayed posthemiplegic hemidystonia, hemiatrophy, and partial seizure: clinical, neuroimaging, and motor-evoked potential studies.

Magnetic motor-evoked potential (MEP) study of patients with the syndrome of delayed posthemiplegic hemidystonia, hemiatrophy, and partial or hemi-seizures ('4-hemi' syndrome) has not been described. Among 35 patients investigated for posthemiplegic movement disorders from February 1988 to January 1995, seven showed '4-hemi' syndrome. Clinical work-up, magnetic resonance images (MRI) and/or computed tomography (CT) were performed in all. Transcranial MEP studies were done in five patients. The remote causes of '4-hemi' syndrome were neonatal stroke, trauma, and encephalitis in infancy. The dystonia may occur as long as a decade after the initial insult. MRI or CT showed destructive lesion in the contralateral putamen (five patients), caudate (four), thalamus (five), and atrophy of the contralateral hemisphere (five). Other associations were porencephalic cyst. Wallerian degeneration, and asymmetric compensatory ventriculomegaly. MEP showed abnormalities in the affected upper limbs in four of five patients. The abnormalities were reduced amplitude of the compound muscle action potential following cortical stimulations with or without temporal dispersion, and with or without prolongation of its latency. The peripheral motor conductions following cervical stimulations were normal. MEP abnormalities may not be related to the hemiatrophy and the size of brain lesion per se. The hemidystonia is static after the second decade of life, and it is often difficult to treat.