Curriculum · Neurology
Cerebellar signs and their localisation
What it is
Cerebellar signs are the signs of a cerebellar insult, and the first rule is the side: cerebellar insults are always ipsilateral lesions. The same rule turns up in the brainstem, where all tract lesions are contralateral except the sympathetic and the spinocerebellar, which are ipsilateral, and it is the spinocerebellar tract that carries ataxia and cerebellar signs.
How it presents
The DASHING mnemonic holds the signs.
- Dysdiadochokinesis.
- Ataxia: falls to the side of the lesion.
- Slurred speech: staccato or scanning.
- Hypotonia and reduced power.
- Intention tremor.
- Nystagmus.
- Gait issues: broad-based.
Dysmetria goes together with the ataxia when the inferior cerebellar peduncle is the structure affected.