Hemichorea as sole clinical finding in basal ganglia infarction: MRI findings

A transient occlusion of the proximal middle cerebral artery may cause a selective necrosis of the basal ganglia with sparing of the pyramid tract. This finding is due to the differences in oxygen consumption of gray and white brain matter. Clinical symptoms are not severe or may be missing altogether in this clinical setting. We report on a patient who developed a transient contralateral chorea after selective basal ganglia infarction. The symptoms abated after 48 hours. In this patient, thalamus and subthalamic nucleus were not ischemically damaged