Abstract

  Non-ketotic hyperglycemic hemichorea (NHH), also known as chorea, hyperglycemia, basal ganglia syndrome or diabetic striatopathy, is a rare neurological complication of non-ketotic hyperglycemia. We describe a case of 65 year old woman with previously undiagnosed diabetes who presented to the emergency room with continuous, involuntary, writhing movements on the left side of her body for one weeks duration. Exam revealed choreiform movements involving the left arm and leg. Laboratory testing revealed elevated blood glucose at 250 mg/dl and elevated HbA1C at 6.5%. MRI brain showed T1 hyper intensity in right basal ganglia without GRE correlate. Patient was diagnosed with non-ketotic hyperglycemic hemichorea and started on metformin. Follow-up MRI brain showed resolution of T1 hyper intensity with normalization of blood glucose. NHH is rare syndrome characterized by sudden onset of hemichorea in poorly controlled diabetics. Early detection and intervention is critical in management of disease morbidity and mortality.

Keywords: Hemichorea, hemiballismus, non ketotic hyperglycemia, diabetic striatopathy, basal ganglia

References

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Citation

Citation: Bhavesh Trikamji. “Hemichorea as an Atypical Manifestation of Diabetes Mellitus". Acta Scientific Neurology 4.1 (2021): 04-06.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021 Bhavesh Trikamji. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.