Therapeutic Stroke - an Interesting Case of Ischemic Stroke in Bilateral Thalamic and Subthalamic Regions Resulting in Reduction of Essential Tremor

Essential tremor (ET) is the commonest adult-onset movement disorder, and its prevalence increases with age. About 10% of the patients with ET can be severely handicapped by it. Medical management is the first line of treatment for ET. In the past, refractory cases of ET underwent thalamotomy, a neurosurgical procedure that caused selective thalamic lesions. We describe a case of an elderly woman with ET that showed a dramatic improvement of her tremor after sustaining an acute stroke in bilateral thalamic and subthalamic regions. This ischemic insult essentially served the purpose of thalamotomy resulting in an improvement in her tremor.