title: Corticosteroid induced hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state and hemiballismus.
abstract: We present an 89-year-old man with new onset of left-sided hemiballismus affecting his face, arm and leg. He was found to have hyperglycaemia with a glucose level of 20.2 mmol/l and had started prednisolone 3 months earlier for polymyalgia rheumatica. A T 2-weighted magnetic resonance scan of the brain showed a hypointense lesion of the right lentiform nucleus. At follow-up, his symptoms had improved with treatment for diabetes mellitus. To our knowledge, this is the first patient to develop hemiballismus after starting corticosteroids.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology , Royal North Shore Hospital , St Leonards, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chinthapalli
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology , Royal North Shore Hospital , St Leonards, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Newey
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology , Royal North Shore Hospital , St Leonards, NSW , Australia ; Medical School , University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krause