A Report of Two Rare Cases of Palatal Tremors

Abstract

Palatal tremor (PT), also known as palatal myoclonus (PM) is a very rare neurological phenomenon, manifesting as rhythmic movements of the soft palate which is hypothesized to occur either due to a lesion in the inferior olivary nucleus, or in an idiopathic manner. Prevalence data of the disease are lacking. Only a few hundred cases have been reported so far. Here we present two cases of palatal tremor, who presented to our tertiary care centre for unrelated symptoms. The first case was a 56 year old gentleman, who was incidentally found to have palatal tremor. Further investigation revealed a posterior circulation stroke involving the left cerebellar hemisphere and cerebellar peduncle. The second case, a 35 year old female, presented with an upper respiratory tract infection, and was discovered to have palatal tremor on routine examination. The cause was attributed to her history of surgical removal of a left cerebellar cyst five years ago.