Beneficial effects of fluvoxamine for hemiballism in a patient with depressive disorder: a case report

Hemiballism (HB) is an involuntary, irregular and poorly patterned movement disorder having wide amplitude. HB can mostly result from a focal vascular lesion in the contralateral basal ganglia. In the absence of an identifiable focal vascular lesion, metabolic derangements, brain neoplasm, and infectious diseases of the central nervous system (eg., human immunodeficiency virus infection) are considered to be the more common causes. Among metabolic causes, nonketotic hyperglycemia has been described as an unusual metabolic cause of this abnormal movement disorder. The involuntary movement usually affects only one side of the body; the term hemiballism is used to describe unilateral ballism (1,2).