RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Chorea
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 188
OP 189
DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.9-2-188
VO 9
IS 2
A1 Michele TM Hu
A1 Richard Butterworth
A1 Gavin Giovannoni
A1 Andrew Church
A1 Stephen Logsdail
YR 2009
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/9/2/188.abstract
AB Two weeks after starting the oral contraceptive pill, a 16-year-old girl developed increasingly violent chorea and an evolving psychosis with prominent hallucinations, ideas of reference, and paranoia. An erythematous skin rash subsequently developed and Sydenham's chorea (SC) was diagnosed. Following neuroleptic medication and steroids, her chorea and psychosis subsided. This case illustrates that severe psychotic features can occur in SC. It is recommended that antistreptolysin O titres and antibasal ganglia antibodies are checked early in patients with evolving movement disorders and prominent neuropsychiatric features, as the window for modifying the course of this immune-mediated disorder may be narrow.