Dropped head syndrome in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis:

Case Report

Authors

  • Marco Orsini Orsini Fisioterapeuta, Professor Titular de Reabilitação Neurológica, ESEHA (Faculdades Pestalozzi) e Doutorando em Neurociências na Universidade Federal Fluminense, UFF.
  • Mariana P Mello Estagiária do Serviço de Reabilitação Neurológica, UNIFESO
  • Fernando Cardoso Médico Residente do Serviço de Neurologia (Setor de Doenças Neuromusculares) da UFF.
  • Osvaldo JM Nascimento Professor Titular de Neurologia e Coordenador da Pós-Graduação em Neurociências da UFF.
  • Gabriel R de Freitas Neurologista do Setor de Doenças Cerebro-Vasculares da UFF
  • Marcos RG de Freitas Professor Titular e Chefe do Serviço de Neurologia da UFF

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34024/rnc.2008.v16.8624

Keywords:

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Neuromuscular Diseases, Electromyography

Abstract

The dropped head syndrome (DHS) is a rare situation caused by weakness of the neck extensor muscles, and it has been observed in many neuromuscular disorders including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We report an ALS patient that presented with DHS after 4 years from the beginning of the disease. The electromyography showed active and chronic denervation in bulbar muscles and cervical, thoracic and lumbosacral segments. The use of orthopedic brace for cervical stability was extremely useful in this case. Although the DHS is not commonly seen in ELA, we believe that patients with DHS should be investigated for ELA.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Lange DJ, Fetell MR, Lovelace RE, Rowland LP. The floppy head syndrome. Ann Neurol 1986;20:133.

Lorenzoni PJ, Lange MC, Kay CKS, Almeida LGMP, Teive HAG, Scola RH, et al. Síndrome da Cabeça Caída em Doença do Neurônio Motor. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2006;64(1):118-21.

Nalini A, Ravishankar S. ‘‘Dropped head syndrome’’ in syringomyelia: report of two cases. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatr 2005;76:290-300.

Gourie-Devi M, Nalini A, Sandhya S. Early or late appearance of “dropped head syndrome” in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Neurol Neurosur Psychiatr 2003;74:683-6.

Askmark H, Olsson Y, Rossitti S. Treatable dropped head syndrome in hypothyroidism. Neurology 2000;55:896-7.

Katz JS, Wolfe GI, Burns DK, Bryan WW, Fleckenstein JL, Barohn RJ. Isolated neck extensor myopathy: a common cause of dropped head syndrome. Neurology 1996;46(4):917–21.

Brooks BR. El Escorial World Federation of Neurology criteria for the diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Neurol Sci 1994;124:96-107.

Medical Research Council. Aids to the examination of the peripheral nervous system. Edinburgh: WB Saunders, 2000, pp. 1-2.

Mahoney FI, Barthel DW. Functional evaluation: Barthel index. Md State Med J 1965;14:61-5.

Grob D, Brunner NG, Namba T. The natural course of myasthenia gravis and effect of therapeutic measures. Ann NY Acad Sci 1981;377:652-69.

DeVere R, Bradley WG. Polymyositis: its presentation, morbidity and mortality. Brain 1975;98:637–66.

Padberg GW, Lunt PW, Koch M, Fardeau M. Diagnostic criteria for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Neuromusc Disord 1991;1:231-4.

Grewal RP. Dropped head presentation in myotonic dystrohy tipe 1. Neurol Ind 2005;53(2):249-50.

Suarez GA, Kelly JJ. The dropped head syndrome. Neurology 1992;42:1625-7.

Jokelainen M. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Finland. Acta Neurol Scand 1977;56:194–204.

Bhatia S, Miller RC, Lachance DL. Neck extensor muscle weakness (Dropped head syndrome) following radiotherapy. Radiol Oncol 2006;40(1):29-33.

Nakanishi K, Taneda M, Sumii T, Yabuuchi T, Iwakura N. Cervical myelopathy caused by dropped head syndrome: Case report and review of the literature. J Neurosurg Spine 2007;6:165–8.

Leano AM, Miller K, White AC. Chronic graft-versus-host diseaserelated polymyositis as a cause of respiratory failure following allogeneic bone marrow transplant. Bon Mar Transplant 2000;26:1117–20.

Umapathi T, Chaudhry V, Cornblath D, Drachman D, Griffin J, Kuncl R. Head drop and camptocormia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatr 2002;73:1-7.

Published

2008-12-31

How to Cite

Orsini, M. O., Mello, M. P., Cardoso, F., Nascimento, O. J., Freitas, G. R. de, & Freitas, M. R. de. (2008). Dropped head syndrome in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis:: Case Report. Revista Neurociências, 16(4), 322–325. https://doi.org/10.34024/rnc.2008.v16.8624

Issue

Section

Relato de Caso
##plugins.generic.dates.received## 2019-03-06
##plugins.generic.dates.published## 2008-12-31

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Obs.: This plugin requires at least one statistics/report plugin to be enabled. If your statistics plugins provide more than one metric then please also select a main metric on the admin's site settings page and/or on the journal manager's settings pages.

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.