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Yawning in acute anterior circulation stroke

Oliver C Singer¹, Marek C Humpich¹, Heiner Lanfermann² and Tobias Neumann-Haefelin¹

¹ Department of Neurology, JW Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany
² Institute for Neuroradiology, JW Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany

Correspondence to:
Dr Oliver Singer, Department of Neurology, JW Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Schleusenweg 2-16, D-60528 Frankfurt/Main, Germany; o.singer{at}em.uni-frankfurt.de

Pathological yawning can be a clinical sign in disorders affecting the brainstem. Here we describe seven patients with pathological yawning caused by acute middle cerebral artery stroke, indicating that pathological yawning also occurs in supratentorial stroke. We hypothesise that excessive yawning is a consequence of lesions in cortical or subcortical areas, which physiologically control diencephalic yawning centres.

Abbreviations: BA, Brodman area; MCA, middle cerebral artery; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; PVN, paraventricular nucleus

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