ABSTRACT
Chorea (Latin for ‘‘dance’’) is a hyperkinetic movement disorder usually due to basal ganglia injury or dysfunction.Movements are brief, irregular, unpredictable, and flow from one body part to another in a random fashion. Occasionally, they may be incorporated into a more purposeful movement to avoid social embarrassment. Chorea can occur in isolation, but usually appears in conjunction with slow, writhing, distal movements called athetosis (i.e., choreoathetosis). Initially, described in the Middle Ages and thought to be psychogenic, chorea was subsequently shown to have numerous etiologies. Sydenham’s chorea (SC, or rheumatic chorea, chorea minor, St. Vitus’ dance) remains one of the most common causes of acute chorea in children.
