Intracortical inhibition of the motor cortex was investigated using a paired pulse magnetic stimulation method in 14 patients with chorea caused by various aetiologies (six patients with Huntington's disease, one with chorea acanthocytosis, a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus with a vascular lesion in the caudate, three with senile chorea and three with chorea of unknown aetiology). The...

Benign hereditary chorea is a rare autosomal-dominant disorder that is characterized by childhood-onset nonprogressive chorea and normal cognitive function. Defects in NKX2-1 on chromosome 14q13, which encodes thyroid transcription factor 1, produce a concurrent clinical manifestation of chorea, respiratory distress, and hypothyroidism known as "brain-lung-thyroid syndrome." Here, the authors d...

BACKGROUND Leucine-rich glioma inactivated 1 (LGI1) antibody produces a syndrome of limbic encephalitis, hyponatremia, and facio-brachial dystonic seizures that is non-paraneoplastic and responsive to corticosteroids. Parkinsonism, tremor, and generalized chorea are rare manifestations of LGI1, but, when present, commonly accompany other signs of limbic encephalitis. CASE REPORT We present a ...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the case notes of 127 patients with chorea admitted to the National Hospital at Queen Square, London, under the care of William Richard Gowers and review his contribution to the study of choreas. METHODS We consulted the case books available at the Queen Square Library, from 1878 to 1911, comprising 42 volumes. RESULTS 97 patients (76.3%) were female and the age of pres...

Generalized chorea caused by unilateral cerebral infarction has rarely been reported. A 58-year-old woman presented involuntary movement in her all extremities after acute cerebral infarction on her right anterior cerebral artery territory. The involuntary movements were diagnosed as generalized chorea. We didn't find any cause of generalized chorea except the acute cerebral infarction. Here, w...

We report a case of persistent chorea as a manifestation of thyrotoxicosis. The chorea was severe and persisted after the patient was rendered euthyroid. Dopamine antagonists only partially suppressed the involuntary movements during the first few months. It was eventually controlled with haloperidol, but whenever she discontinues the treatment the chorea has returned during the 16 months since...

The original descriptions of chorea date from the Middle Ages, when an epidemic of "dancing mania" swept throughout Europe. The condition was initially considered a curse sent by a saint, but was named "Saint Vitus's dance" because afflicted individuals were cured if they touched churches storing Saint Vitus's relics. Paracelsus coined the term chorea Sancti Viti and recognized different forms ...

Sydenham’s chorea is a delayed complication of group Aßhaemolytic streptococcal infections and forms one of the majorcriteria of acute rheumatic fever.It is characterised bychorea, muscular weakness, and a number of neuropsychiatricsymptoms. It is considered to be an autoantibody mediated disorderwith the evidence suggesting that patients with Sydenham’schorea produce antibodies that cross reac...

Two cases of polycythaemic chorea are described, both of which were complicated by severe heart disease. The first was a child with patent ductus arteriosus and coarctation of the aorta causing severe cyanosis and secondary polycythaemia. Chorea began intermittently at an early age, becoming continuous by his fifth birthday. The second was a middle-aged male with tight mitral stenosis and a sto...

There has been a decline in the incidence of acute rheumatic fever in recent decades in developed countries and in Taiwan. Sydenham's chorea, a major manifestation of rheumatic fever, was the most common cause of chorea in children in the past. But the incidence of Sydenham's chorea has declined in recent years in concert with the decline in rheumatic fever. Sydenham's chorea is usually bilater...