Chorea
August 19th, 2017
Overview
Look For
- Spontaneous, abrupt, irregular movements. May manifest in the face, neck, torso, arms or legs.
Causes of Chorea
- Inherited disorders - Huntington's disease, Friedrich's ataxia, ataxia-telangiectasia, tuberous sclerosis, benign hereditary chorea, mitochondrial disease
- Vascular - ischaemic / haemorrhagic stroke
- CNS tumour
- Drugs - levodopa, antiepileptics, antipsychotics, stimulants, benzodiazepines, OCP, lithium
- Infectious - Sydenham's chorea (rheumatic fever), herpes simplex encephalitis, HIV, prions
- Metabolic - pregnancy, thyrotoxicosis
- Autoimmune - SLE, anti-phospholipid syndrome, scleroderma
The term chorea derives from the Greek koreia, 'dance'.
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