Bilateral asterixis in a patient with bilateral anterior cerebral artery infarction.

A 83-year-old woman complained of muscular weakness in the left leg and trembling in all extremities. She was apathetic and had left leg paresis and asterixis in all extremities. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed acute cerebral infarctions in the bilateral frontal lobes perfused by the anterior cerebral artery (ACA). Anticoagulant treatments improved ischemia-induced damage of the frontal lobes, and then her neurological symptoms including asterixis gradually disappeared. A unique point of this case is that acute stroke in the bilateral ACA territory induced bilateral asterixis resembling metabolic encephalopathy. Occurrence of the bilateral ACA territory infarction is extremely rare, but it should be considered in patients presenting with bilateral asterixis.