Choreia (disease)
Classification and external resources
ICD-10	G25.5
ICD-9	333.5
DiseasesDB	16662
eMedicine	neuro/62
MeSH	D002819

Choreia (or chorea) is an abnormal involuntary movement disorder, one of a group of neurological disorders called dyskinesias. The term choreia is derived from a Greek word χορεία (a kind of dance, see choreia (dance)), as the quick movements of the feet or hands are vaguely comparable to dancing or piano playing.

The term hemichoreia refers to choreia of one side of the body, such as choreia of one arm and not both (comparable to hemiballismus).

Contents 1 Presentation 2 Causes 3 Ballism 4 Treatment 5 References 6 See also

[edit] Presentation

Choreia is characterized by brief, quasi-purposeful, irregular contractions that are not repetitive or rhythmic, but appear to flow from one muscle to the next.

These 'dance-like' movements of choreia (from the same root word as "choreography") often occur with athetosis, which adds twisting and writhing movements.

[edit] Causes

Choreia can occur in a variety of conditions and disorders.

• Choreia is a primary feature of Huntington's disease, a progressive, neurological disorder.
• Twenty percent of children and adolescents with rheumatic fever develop Sydenham's chorea as a complication.
• Choreia gravidarum is rare type of choreia which is a complication of pregnancy.
• Choreia may also be caused by drugs (levodopa, anti-convulsants, anti-psychotics), metabolic disorders, endocrine disorders, and vascular incidents.
• Ataxia telangiectasia
• Wilson's disease, a genetic disorder that leads to toxic levels of copper in the body

[edit] Ballism

When choreia is serious, slight movements will become thrashing motions; this form of severe choreia is referred to as ballism. Walking may become peculiar, and include odd postures and leg movements. Unlike ataxia and dystonia, which affect the quality of voluntary movements or parkinsonism, which is a hindrance of voluntary movements, the movements of choreia and ballism occur on their own, without conscious effort.

[edit] Treatment

There is no standard course of treatment for choreia. Treatment depends on the type of choreia and the associated disease. Although there are many drugs that can control Choreia, there is no known cure.

Form	Treatment
Huntington's-related	A common treatment is dopaminergic antagonists, although treatment is largely supportive.
Sydenham's chorea	Haloperidol, carbamazepine and valproic acid.Usually involves antibiotic drugs to treat the infection, followed by drug therapy to prevent recurrence.
Choreia gravidarum	haloperidol[1][2][3], chlorpromazine alone or in combination with diazepam, also pimozide can also be used.
Wilson's disease	Reducing levels of copper in the body using D-penicillinamine, trientine hydrochloride, tetrathiomolybdate, and other chelating agents
Drug-induced choreia	Adjusting medication dosages.
Metabolic and endocrine-related choreias	Treated according to their causes.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Movement disorder
• Choreoathetosis
• Dancing mania
• Huntington's Disease

v • d • e Pathology of the nervous system, primarily CNS (G04–G47, 323–349) Inflammation Brain Encephalitis (Viral encephalitis, Herpesviral encephalitis) · Cavernous sinus thrombosis · Brain abscess (Amoebic) Spinal cord Myelitis: Poliomyelitis · Demyelinating disease (Transverse myelitis) · Tropical spastic paraparesis Both/either Encephalomyelitis (Acute disseminated) Meningoencephalitis Brain/ encephalopathy Degenerative Extrapyramidal and movement disorders Basal ganglia disease: Parkinsonism (PD, Postencephalitic, NMS) · PKAN · Tauopathy (PSP) · Striatonigral degeneration · Hemiballismus · HD · OA Dyskinesia: Dystonia (Spasmodic torticollis, Meige's, Blepharospasm) · Chorea (Choreoathetosis) · Myoclonus (Myoclonic epilepsy) Tremor (Essential tremor, Intention tremor) · Restless legs · Stiff person Dementia Tauopathy: Alzheimer's (Early-onset) · Frontotemporal dementia/Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (Pick's, Dementia with Lewy bodies) Multi-infarct dementia Mitochondrial disease Leigh's Demyelinating autoimmune (Multiple sclerosis, Neuromyelitis optica, Schilder's disease) · hereditary (Adrenoleukodystrophy, Alexander, Canavan, Krabbe, ML, PMD, VWM, MFC, CAMFAK syndrome) · Central pontine myelinolysis · Marchiafava-Bignami disease · Alpers' Episodic/ paroxysmal Seizure/epilepsy Focal · Generalised · Status epilepticus · Myoclonic epilepsy Headache Migraine (Familial hemiplegic) · Cluster · Tension Cerebrovascular TIA (Amaurosis fugax, Transient global amnesia) Stroke (MCA, ACA, PCA, Foville's, Millard-Gubler, Lateral medullary, Weber's, Lacunar stroke) Sleep disorders Insomnia · Hypersomnia · Sleep apnea (Obstructive, Ondine's curse) · Narcolepsy · Cataplexy · Kleine-Levin · Circadian rhythm sleep disorder (Advanced sleep phase syndrome, Delayed sleep phase syndrome, Non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome, Jet lag) CSF Intracranial hypertension (Hydrocephalus/NPH, Idiopathic intracranial hypertension) · Cerebral edema · Intracranial hypotension Other Brain herniation · Reye's · Hepatic encephalopathy · Toxic encephalopathy Spinal cord/ myelopathy Syringomyelia · Syringobulbia · Morvan's syndrome · Vascular myelopathy (Foix-Alajouanine syndrome) · Spinal cord compression Both/either Degenerative SA Friedreich's ataxia · Ataxia telangiectasia MND UMN only: PLS · PP · HSP LMN only: PMA · PBP (Fazio-Londe, Infantile progressive bulbar palsy) · SMA (SMN-linked, Kennedy disease, SMAX2, DSMA1) both: ALS central nervous system navs: anat/physio/dev, noncongen/congen/neoplasia, symptoms+signs/eponymous, proc