A medullary syndrome characterized by wild arm ataxia

To the Editor: We read with interest the report of Currier and Bebin1 describing five patients with wild arm ataxia following lateral medullary infarction. Neuropathologic findings were presented for a 74-year-old man who had “experienced two respiratory arrests and died” 5 or more days following the onset of stroke symptoms. The cause of his death was stated to be “a completely thrombosed right vertebral artery.” We noticed that this vascular lesion together with the right lateral medullary infarction described are not typically lethal in themselves. Recent reports2-5 have described patients who experienced unexpected sudden cardiorespiratory arrest several days following …