Automatic Stepping in Patients with Progressive Basilar Artery Infarction

J Korean Neurol Assoc > Volume 22(2); 2004 > Article

Journal of the Korean Neurological Association 2004;22(2): 142-146.

진행성 기저동맥 뇌경색 환자들에서 나타난 자동디딤증

이진수, 이필휴 신동훈 허균

아주대학교 의과대학 신경과학교실

Automatic Stepping in Patients with Progressive Basilar Artery Infarction

Jin Soo Lee

Department of Neurology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea

Abstract

Automatic stepping is an involuntary disorder with cyclic alternating leg movements which causes patients to appear as if walking. We report automatic stepping in patients with progressive basilar artery territory infarcts. These movements consisted of spontaneous knee flexions and ankle dorsiflexions with intermittent hip flexions, and alternating leg movements without provocation. Intervals between the movements were various from 3 to 30 seconds. Serial diffusion- weighted MRI revealed that progressive lesions were mainly located in the pontine tegmental areas. Key Words: Automatic stepping, Pontine tegmentum, Basilar artery infarction