Recurrent Hemichorea Following Striatal Lesions

Abstract

Hemibalplismus is regularly associated with lesions in the contralateral subthalamic nucleus. In addition, hemichorea, at times violent enough to be called hemiballismus, occurs occasionally as a result of lesions in other sites, including the pallidum, thalamus, cortex, and, most often, the neostriatum, usually on the side opposite the uncontrollable limbs. We describe a patient in whom two distinct episodes of severe left-sided hemichorea were associated with two separate right-sided cerebral lesions, one chiefly in the putamen, the second in the caudate nucleus.