Bilateral Periodic Limb Movement Disorder Developed after Anterior Cerebral Artery Infarction

ABSTRACT

Previous reports on the lesions causing stroke-related periodic limb movement in sleep (PLMS) have involved subcortical structures such as the basal ganglia/corona radiata or pons. We report a case of an 81-year-old female patient who presented with bilateral, right-side-predominant PLMS that developed after a left cortical infarction. The right-side PLMS may be attributable to the loss of cortical inhibition following a pyramidal tract lesion, while the left-side PLMS may be caused by activation of the contralateral motor cortex due to dysfunction of interhemispheric inhibition.