Abstract
A case of a 70-year-old female with inferior syndrome of the red nucleus (Claude's syndrome) was reported.
She complained of right blepharoptosis and impairment of equilibrium and gait, which developed on November 20, 1982.
On admission, neurologic examination revealed complete paralysis of the right oculomotor nerve and the cerebellar symptoms of the left extremities. She stood wide-based and unsteady, and walked with leftward deviation, and eventually fell down. Hemiplegia and involuntary movements were absent.
CT scanning revealed a lesion in horizontal, sagittal and frontal planes, with a small low density area in the region involving the right red nucleus of the midbrain.
These clinical symptoms and signs were diagnostic of Claude's syndrome.
Only a few cases of Claude's syndrome have been reported in Japan, and a very few cases with lesions demonstrated by CT scan as in this case have been reported. The cause in this case was occlusion of the middle cerebral branch of the posterior cerebral artery.
The patient has run a favorable prognosis: the cerebellar symptoms have disappeared, and only slight oculomotor palsy and blepharoptosis remained.
