Cerebral contusion as a rare cause of foot drop: Case report

Abstract

A 74-year-old woman, taking anticoagulant therapy for chronic heart failure, presented to our emergency room with left dorsiflexion weakness 8 hours from after multitrauma. A detailed neurological examination revealed only 0/5 strength in the left foot dorsiflexion without any upper motor neuron signs. While there was no spinal cord pathology detected, cranial computed tomography demonstrated a lesion in the right parasagittal localization consistent with hemorrhagic contusion. Clinical follow-ups showed an improvement in neurological findings with muscle power of 3/5 in day 5 and 5/5 in day 45 of admission. The parasagittal region has a foot localization in the homonculus and lesions in this area can rarely present with the foot drop sign. Thus, parasagittal region lesions should always be kept in mind in foot drop cases.