Hemiballismus
Hemiballismus
- Hemiballismus presents with an acute onset of asymmetric, nonsuppressible, choreiform-like movements.
- The movements are wild and ballistic (flinging), typically of the proximal arm or leg and classically due to a stroke in the contralateral subthalamic nucleus.
- Note that the pathology can be due to injury in more widespread regions, including the thalamus, caudate, and putamen, and the pathogenesis can be due to a variety of structural or metabolic causes, including, notably, nonketotic hyperglycemia.
- The movements are either categorized as a subtype of chorea or separately from chorea.