1/24. Hemiballismus and brain metastases from squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix.BACKGROUND: Brain metastases from cervical carcinoma are rare. Accompanying symptoms depend on the location of the metastatic lesions. Hemiballismus refers to a rare movement disorder characterized by involuntary, large amplitude movements of the limbs of one side of the body. The area of the brain controlling the limb movement is in the subthalamic nucleus of the contralateral side. In contrast, the usual location of brain metastases from cervical cancer is in the frontal and parietal parenchyma. There have been reported cases of hemiballismus secondary to metastatic carcinoma of the breast, lung, and gall bladder. This is the first reported case of putative cervical cancer metastases associated with hemiballismus. CASE: A 38-year-old Caucasian female was diagnosed with FIGO stage II-B poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. Para-aortic lymph nodes were positive for metastatic disease. The patient was treated by radiation with hydroxyurea chemosensitization. Four months after the initial diagnosis she presented with acute onset of hemiballismus. magnetic resonance imaging of the head revealed a solitary lesion in the left cerebral peduncle extending into the inferior aspect of the left basal ganglia complex. The lesion was inaccessible to biopsy or excision. Palliative radiation therapy to the brain was unsuccessful and the patient expired 1 year following primary presentation. CONCLUSION: Treatment of hemiballismus is directed to its underlying causes. Some brain metastases from cervical cancer may be palliated or even cured by surgical resection and radiation therapy. Although not conclusive, it appears that hemiballismus in a setting of metastatic cervical cancer has a poor prognosis and little benefit from irradiation.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = subthalamic nucleus, subthalamic, nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/24. Non-ketotic hyperglycemia in a young woman, presenting as hemiballism-hemichorea.We report a 22-year-old girl presenting with acute onset left sided hemiballism-hemichorea (HH) and non-ketotic hyperglycemia (NKH). Initial brain CT revealed faint hyperdensities, sharply confined to the contralateral nucleus caudatus and putamen. Sequential MRI investigations yielded increasing hypersignal intensities on T1-weighted images and resolving hypodensities on T2-weighted images of the right striatum, leaving small sequelae in the head of the right caudate nucleus. NKH is an unusual cause of HH. The abnormalities seen in neuroimaging are rare, but seem to be quite specific to this syndrome. We give an update on current literature regarding the possible pathophysiological processes underlying this specific clinical entity.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.0026601776446745keywords = nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/24. Bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation in a parkinsonian patient with preoperative deficits in speech and cognition: persistent improvement in mobility but increased dependency: a case study.We report a patient with advanced Parkinson's disease, including severe and frequent off periods with freezing of gait, moderate dysphonia, and some cognitive impairment, who underwent bilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) stimulation. The patient was followed for 1 year after surgery, showing persistent good mobility without off periods and without freezing, which reverted completely when stopping the stimulation. There was deterioration of cognition as well as increased aphonia and drooling, all of which remained when the stimulation was turned off. The striking improvement in motor symptoms following STN stimulation was not paralleled by improvement in disability, probably as a result of a cognitive decline, suggesting a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease with dementia. We conclude that chronic STN stimulation is efficient in alleviating akinetic motor symptoms including gait freezing; this surgery should be offered before patients start to exhibit speech or cognitive disturbances.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = subthalamic nucleus, subthalamic, nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/24. Hypersexuality and hemiballism due to subthalamic infarction.OBJECTIVE: A 70-year-old right-handed man presented with a subthalamic infarction followed by persistent hypersexuality and hemiballism. A lacunar infarction 1 cm in diameter was observed on magnetic resonance imaging. We hypothesized that metabolic abnormalities would be detected in cortical areas related to his neurobehavioral symptoms. BACKGROUND: Statistical validation of the regional metabolic changes that may relate to neuropsychiatric symptoms has been elusive. Relating metabolic changes to neuropsychiatric symptoms is especially important in unique neurobehavioral cases. METHOD: Quantitative fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography was obtained for a single-subject comparison with scans from 60 healthy subjects. RESULTS: Substantial glucose hypometabolism (p <0.001, uncorrected; [df = 56]) was identified in the subthalamic nucleus at the site of the lacunar infarction. Hypermetabolism (p <0.01) was identified within the basal forebrain and temporal lobes, anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortices (areas previously associated with hypersexuality), and striatum (p <0.001) ipsilateral to the stroke (areas known to relate to hemiballism). CONCLUSIONS: Single-subject statistical parametric mapping may improve our understanding of unique neurobehavioral cases.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2.3049483541232keywords = subthalamic nucleus, subthalamic, nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/24. Clinicopathological study of atypical motor neuron disease with vertical gaze palsy and ballism.The case of a 38-year-old patient with rapidly progressing motor neuron disease, complicated by major dysfunction of the extrapyramidal system and of vertical gaze is described. Neuropathological examination revealed a degenerative process that severely affected the lower motor neurons, as well as the neurons of the pars compacta of the substantia nigra, the nucleus of Darkschewitsch, the nucleus interstitialis of Cajal, the colliculi superiores, and the pallidum. The long tracts were unaffected at all levels of the brain stem and spinal cord. There was no convincing evidence for the presence of a multiple system atrophy or progressive supranuclear palsy; the results rather revealed a pattern of vulnerability characteristic of a variant of motor neuron disease.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.0026601776446745keywords = nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/24. Delayed onset of hemidystonia and hemiballismus following head injury: a clinicopathological correlation. Case report.The authors report the case of a young man who suffered multiple injuries in a motor vehicle accident, the most significant of which arose in the brain, creating an unusual clinical syndrome. After experiencing an initial coma for several days, the patient was found to have a right-sided homonymous hemianopsia and a right hemiparesis, which was more marked at the shoulder and was accompanied by preservation of finger movement. Dystonic movements appeared 2 months later and progressed, along with increased spasticity on volition, to severe uncontrolled arm movements at 2 years postinjury. This motor disorder continued to worsen during the following 6 years prior to the patient's death. At autopsy, the left side of the brain was observed to have marked atrophy of the optic tract, a partial lesion of the posterior portion of the medial segment of the globus pallidus (GP), and a reduction in the size of the internal capsule at the level of the GP, suggesting impaired circulation to these areas at the time of injury. The isolated lesion of the internal segment of the GP was the presumed cause of the dystonia, acting through an alteration in thalamic inhibition. The atrophic subthalamic nucleus was the probable cause of the hemiballismus. The authors speculate that this and other delayed and progressive features of this case were the result of an active, but disordered, adaptive process that failed to compensate and, instead, caused even greater problems than the original injury.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = subthalamic nucleus, subthalamic, nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/24. Transient hemichorea/hemiballismus associated with new onset hyperglycemia.OBJECTIVE: To describe three patients suffering from transient hemichorea/hemiballismus associated with hyperglycemia, review previous reports and propose a possible pathophysiological explanation for this phenomenon. RESULTS: Our original cases and previously reported ones reveal a uniform syndrome: mostly female patients (F/M ratio of 11/2), 50-80 years old, usually with no previous history of diabetes mellitus (9/13), develop choreic or ballistic movements on one side of the body over a period of hours. serum glucose levels are elevated. In most of the patients, a lowering of the blood sugar level reverses the movement disorder within 24-48 hours. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that the combination of a recent or old striatal lesion (causing increased inhibition of the subthalamic nucleus) and hyperglycemia (causing decreased GABAergic inhibition of the thalamus) may be responsible for the appearance of this unilateral hyperkinetic movement disorder. Undiagnosed diabetes mellitus should always be suspected in patients who develop hemiballistic or hemichoreic movements. When hyperglycemia is detected and corrected, the movement disorder usually resolves within two days and may not require symptomatic therapy with dopamine receptor antagonists.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = subthalamic nucleus, subthalamic, nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/24. diffusion-weighted and gradient echo magnetic resonance findings of hemichorea-hemiballismus associated with diabetic hyperglycemia: a hyperviscosity syndrome?BACKGROUND: The magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings of hemichorea-hemiballismus (HCHB) associated with hyperglycemia are characterized by hyperintensities in the striatum on T1-weighted MR images and computed tomographic scans, with a mechanism of petechial hemorrhage considered to be responsible. diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) has been reported to detect early ischemic damage (cytotoxic edema) as bright areas of high signal intensity and vasogenic edema as areas of heterogeneous signal intensity. We report various DWI findings in 2 patients with hyperglycemic HCHB. OBJECTIVES: To describe the DWI and gradient echo findings and characterize the types of edema in HCHB associated with hyperglycemia. SETTING: A tertiary referral center neurology department. DESIGN AND methods: Two patients with HCHB associated with hyperglycemia underwent DWI, gradient echo imaging, and conventional MR imaging with gadolinium enhancement. The patients had an elevated serum glucose level on admission and a long history of uncontrolled diabetes, and the symptoms were controlled by dopamine receptor blocking agents. Initial DWIs were obtained 5 to 20 days after symptom onset. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were measured in the abnormal lesions with visual inspection of DWI and T2-weighted echo planar images. RESULTS: T1- and T2-weighted MR images and brain computed tomographic scans showed high signal intensities in the right head of the caudate nucleus and the putamen. Gradient echo images were normal. The DWIs showed bright high signal intensity in the corresponding lesions (patient 1), and the ADC values were decreased. The decrease in ADC and the high signal intensity on DWI persisted despite the disappearance of HCHB, even after 70 days. CONCLUSIONS: Gradient echo MR imaging findings were normal in HCHB with hyperglycemia, whereas DWI and the ADC map showed restricted diffusion, which suggests that hyperviscosity, not petechial hemorrhage, with cytotoxic edema can cause the observed MR abnormalities.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.0013300888223373keywords = nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/24. Lesioning the thalamus for dyskinesia.Recent advances on understanding the pallidothalamic relation lead us to perform Vim-Vo thalamotomy (combined thalamic lesion in ventralis intermedius nucleus and ventralis oralis nucleus) for cases with dyskinesia. In our recent series of thalamotomies, there are 12 cases of dyskinesia caused by various etiologies. Therefore the clinical manifestation of the involuntary movement was different in each case, including, more or less, some elements of irregular involuntary hyperkinetic movement. Stereotactic operation was performed using Leksell's apparatus aided by Surgiplan and MRI. The Vim nucleus was identified by physiological study using microelectrodes. High background activity and kinesthetic neurons are reliable indicators of Vim nucleus (but only for the lateral part). Then, selective coagulation was made by dual coagulation needles. Since the Vo nucleus is located just rostral to the Vim nucleus, the coagulation needle was turned toward the anterior part to partly cover the Vo nucleus. Thus, selective Vim-Vo thalamotomy was shown to be quite successful for the treatment of dyskinesia.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.0093106217563608keywords = nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/24. Hemiballism after subthalamotomy in patients with Parkinson's disease: report of 2 cases.The occurrence of persistent hemiballism after subthalamotomy for Parkinson's disease (PD) has not been described as frequently as mild or transient dyskinesia. We report on 2 patients with advanced PD who developed hemiballism and/or dyskinesia after subthalamotomy. One patient with a small lesion confined to the subthalamic nucleus (STN) developed persistent hemiballism; the other with a larger lesion involving the STN and also the zona incerta presented with a transient dyskinesia in a single limb. We conclude that a precise STN lesion might bear a potential risk of persistent hemiballism.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = subthalamic nucleus, subthalamic, nucleus (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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