Injury of the dentato-rubro-thalamic tract in a patient with intentional tremor after mild traumatic brain injury: a case report

ABSTRACT

Objectives

We imaged the dentato-rubro-thalamic tract (DRTT) and cortico-ponto-cerebellar tract (CPCT) using diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) to evaluate the cortico-cerebellar-cortical circuit in a patient with tremor in both hands after mild TBI. We found bilateral DRTT injury in the DTT.

Method

A 50-year-old male presented with action tremor in both hands 1 week after mild TBI. One month before the visit, the patient had a head injury from a fall on a bus. The patient lost consciousness for 1 min and experienced post-traumatic amnesia for approximately 5 min after the accident. His Glasgow Coma Scale score was 15. The action tremor presented with a frequency of 3 Hz in both hands. No specific lesion was observed with a conventional brain MRI.

Results

DTT, performed 1.5 months after TBI, showed that the right DRTT was not reconstructed and the left DRTT had thinned. However, CPCT integrity was well-preserved in both hemispheres. The tremor disappeared after oral treatment with 30 mg/day indenol. The patient’s tremor would have been caused by disruption of the bilateral DRTT following mild TBI.

Conclusion

DRTT and CPCT analysis using DTT would be useful for diagnosing abnormal movement problems, including tremor and ataxia, in patients following mild TBI.

KEYWORDS:

• Traumatic brain injury
• diffuse axonal injury
• tremor
• dentato-rubro-thalamic tract
• cortico-ponto-cerebellar tract

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Additional information

Funding

The present study was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean government (Grain No. NRF-2019R1F1A1061348).