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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

A blinded study of the suppressibility of involuntary movements in Huntington's chorea, tardive dyskinesia, and L-dopa-induced chorea.

Videotapes of patients with Huntington's chorea, tardive dyskinesia (TD), and L-DOPA-induced chorea in Parkinson's disease were taken while the patients were seated with their legs dangling. The videotapes were scored in a blinded fashion for suppressibility of dyskinesias. Most patients with TD or L-DOPA-induced chorea substantially suppressed their involuntary movements, whereas most patients with Huntington's chorea did not. There was a small overlap between the TD and Huntington's chorea groups and suppressibility therefore could not absolutely distinguish between them. Suppressibility testing may nonetheless be a valuable clinical tool since a good, excellent, or complete suppressibility rating was highly suggestive of TD but not Huntington's chorea. TD and L-DOPA-induced chorea may be more pathophysiologically similar to each other than either is to Huntington's chorea.

Chorea↗

A comparison of the regularity of involuntary muscle contractions in vascular chorea with that in Huntington's chorea, hemiballism and parkinsonian tremor.

We compared the regularity of involuntary muscle contractions in patients with Huntington's disease, vascular chorea, hemiballism and parkinsonian tremor to clarify the nature of phasic involuntary movements caused by lesions in the basal ganglia. Rectified and smoothed electromyograms (EMGs) in involuntary contractions of the predominantly affected muscles were analyzed. After detecting the muscle whose EMG waves showed the most regular rhythm, the frequency, coefficients of variation of interval, amplitude and rise time of the successive EMG waves were compared. The regularity of the intervals of the EMG waves in vascular chorea was significantly greater than that in Huntington's chorea, and some patients with vascular chorea showed a regular rhythm the degree of which approximated that of parkinsonian tremor. The regularity of the intervals of the EMG waves in hemiballism was greater than that in Huntington's chorea, but lower than that in vascular chorea. The regularities of interval, amplitude and rise time all showed the same ordering across the patient groups. The high regularity of muscle contraction intervals in vascular chorea and hemiballism may arise from neural circuits that are abnormally activated as well as those producing tremor.

Adult↗

Chorea and myoclonus in the monkey induced by gamma-aminobutyric acid antagonism in the lentiform complex. The site of drug action and a hypothesis for the neural mechanisms of chorea.

Experiments are described in which the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) antagonist bicuculline was injected into the lentiform complex of conscious monkeys. Injections into either the lateral segment of the globus pallidus, or the medial part of the putamen, gave rise to chorea of the contralateral limbs and/or orofacial region. Control injections of vehicle alone were without effect. Injections of bicuculline into the lateral part of the putamen gave rise to contralateral myoclonus. The chorea produced by lateral pallidal or medial putaminal injections was virtually indistinguishable from the dyskinesia (chorea/ballism) which has been shown, in previous studies, to be induced by injection of GABA antagonists into the subthalamic nucleus. It is proposed that the primary site of action of the GABA antagonist in producing chorea, in the present studies, was the lateral segment of the globus pallidus. The mode of action is suggested to be interruption of GABAergic transmission from the striatum to the lateral pallidal segment. Since this also occurs in Huntington's disease, it is proposed that experimental chorea induced by this method in the monkey may be a useful model of the dyskinesia seen in Huntington's disease in man. Loss of influence of inhibitory striatopallidal fibres would lead to abnormally increased activity of lateral pallidal neurons. These in turn project to the subthalamic nucleus, upon which they have an inhibitory action. Dyskinesia is thus produced by physiological inhibition of the subthalamic nucleus, whose destruction, both in man and the monkey, is known to produce ballism. It is proposed that ballism and chorea share common neural mechanisms, both involving the loss of influence of the subthalamic nucleus on the medial segment of the globus pallidus.

Animals↗

Regional cerebral glucose metabolism in SLE chorea: further evidence that striatal hypometabolism is not a correlate of chorea.

The pathophysiology of chorea in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is uncertain. Pathologic examination has not identified a specific location for the causative lesion(s) and immunologic mechanisms have been suggested in its etiology. In other choreic disorders, such as Huntington's disease and benign hereditary chorea, glucose hypometabolism in the striatum has been demonstrated by positron computed tomography (PCT) using [18F]deoxyglucose. With this technique we have studied four patients with chorea secondary to SLE. In these patients the regional distribution of cerebral glucose metabolism was normal. In particular, striatal glucose metabolism was within the normal range, even though the ratio of striatal to cortical glucose metabolism was increased. Our results show that striatal hypometabolism, as seen in other disorders manifesting chorea, is not the PCT correlate of the dyskinesia.

Adult↗

[Chorea mollis, a rare variant of chorea minor].

A 15-year-old boy was admitted at age 10 because of muscle weakness, choreatic involuntary movements, and a profound hypotonia. He was diagnosed as having chorea mollis, a rare variant of Sydenham's chorea. He made a full recovery and received prophylaxis with monthly injections of benzathinebenzyl penicillin for the next 5 years. Six months after discontinuation of the prophylaxis he had a recurrence. The choreatic movements were successfully treated with haloperidol. However, a hypotonia and mild psychiatric symptoms still persist one year later. The clinical course, observed in our patient, is in concordance with the results of recent studies, reporting, that a number of patients with Sydenham's chorea may be left with mild to moderate neurologic and psychiatric sequelae.

Adolescent↗

[Progress in molecular chorea diagnosis. McLeod syndrome and chorea acanthocytosis].

McLeod syndrome and chorea-acanthocytosis are classified with the so-called neuroacanthocytosis group of syndromes. Both lead to progressive basal ganglia degeneration and were not easily distinguished in the past. With the discovery of their molecular bases, mutations of the X-linked gene XK and autosomal recessive mutations of the gene coding for chorein, respectively, the two phenotypes can now be differentiated and extend the diagnostic spectrum in patients presenting with chorea. The present review compares the two conditions and proposes a practical approach to diagnosis and treatment. Better-defined disease concepts should eventually replace the umbrella term of "neuroacanthocytosis." Animal models are needed to understand the underlying mechanisms. A final common pathway is likely for the pathogenesis of these conditions and is most probably shared with Huntington's disease.

Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral↗

Chorea-amyotrophy with chronic hemolytic anemia: a variant of chorea-amyotrophy with acanthocytosis.

We studied two siblings with chorea and amyotrophy of adult onset and spherocytic hemolytic anemia. Autopsy revealed an atrophic striatum with iron deposition and spheroid bodies. Degeneration of the substantia nigra and spinal cord anterior horns was seen without iron deposition. The disorder seems to be a variant of the chorea-amyotrophy-acanthocytosis syndrome, and the pathology may account for evidence of parkinsonism and amyotrophy in that syndrome. Acanthocytosis may not be the only hematologic abnormality in this disorder.

Acanthocytes↗

[Chorea in hemodialysis: Is chorea just a neurological syndrome or is it related to uremia or dialysis?].

Chronic renal failure and haemodialysis patients are prone to develop encephalopathy. The causes of encephalopathy are often unclear. Clinical signs of encephalopathy in the uraemic patient often overlap with several other affections causing neurological disorders. Whenever basal ganglia are anatomically involved, movement disorders arise, including chorea. Some acute and chronic neurological syndromes associated with chronic uraemia have consistently been reported (uraemic encephalopathy, dialysis disequilibrium syndrome, dialysis dementia, nephroangiosclerosis neuropathy and ageing neuropathy). Other clinical conditions in which neurological involvement exists are not so frequent in both haemodialysis patients and in the general population (Wernicke's encefalopathy, Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease). Because of the non specific symptoms and the very heterogeneous aetiology, a careful physical examination should be performed in haemodialysis patients with clinical signs of encephalopathy and the main metabolic alterations should be sought; moreover, central nervous system imaging examination is often appropriate. In case of basal ganglia anatomical involvement, supported by findings of imaging techniques, it is necessary to evaluate individual causes of encephalopathy by means of more accurate tests including analysis of cerebro-spinal fluid, measurement of plasma levels of vitamin B components and laboratory tests searching for more uncommon diseases such as Huntington's chorea and Wilson's disease.

Aged↗