Abstract
We describe a case of non-diabetic hemichorea resulting from incomplete ischemic injury of the contralateral lenticulostriate artery region. A 90-year-old woman was admitted because of coarse hemichorea on the right side. She did not have hyperglycemia or a past history of diabetes mellitus, and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed no apparent new lesion. Haloperidol was administered, and her choreic movement gradually improved. Six weeks after the chorea onset, brain MRI revealed a small high-intensity lesion in the left striatum on a T1-weighted image and a perforator branch infarction in the left coronal radiation. These lesions were closely located and estimated to be caused by focal ischemia in the territory of single or multiple lateral lenticulostriate arteries. Diabetic hemichorea is frequently associated with contralateral striatal high-intensity lesions on T1-weighted images, and such lesions have been suggested to be caused by incomplete ischemic injuries. Our case suggests that striatal T1-hyperintensity lesions could occur in association with non-diabetic hemichorea, and the timing of the appearance and the size of T1-hyperintensity lesions do not closely correlate with the severity of the choreic movements.
