Biballism due to non-ketotic hyperglycaemia

We describe the case of a 70-year-old woman, with type 1 diabetes mellitus, who suddenly developed a movement disorder on the left side of her body that rapidly extended to the right side, evoking biballism. There was no facial involvement and no vascular lesions on cerebral MRI but non-ketotic hyperglycaemia was present. A combination of a reduction in glucose levels and the use of neuroleptic drugs resulted in the disappearance of the abnormal movements. In this report, we discuss the association between non-ketotic hyperglycaemia and ballism along with a review of the literature. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.