How Is Chorea Treated?
Chorea is a movement disorder causes involuntary, unpredictable, and abnormal body movements. It has multiple possible causes, including AIDS, genetic conditions like Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus, certain infections like rheumatic fever, specific medications such as neuroleptics and levodopa, endocrine disorders like hypoglycemia, metabolic disorders, and pregnancy. Symptoms of chorea can cause mild to severe interference with an individual's ability to speak, swallow, maintain proper posture, and uphold a normal gait. Chorea is diagnosed using a thorough physical exam, extensive family and medical history, blood count tests, hormone level tests, antibody testing, toxin testing, genetic testing, CT scans, urine tests, MRI scans, performance testing, and neurological evaluations.
Several methods can be utilized to treat chorea. Learn about them now.
Antipsychotic Medication
An individual affected by chorea may need to take antipsychotic medication to treat their condition. Antipsychotic medication and neuroleptic medication are terms used to describe a group of medications mainly used to treat psychosis. However, these medications are also the most widely used pharmaceutical agents in the treatment of chorea. The exact mechanism of these medications is not clear, but it is thought to be associated with the inhibition of overactive dopamine receptors in the brain. Neuroleptics or antipsychotics are referred to as dopamine antagonists and have shown the best efficacy in patients who have chorea due to Huntington's disease. There are two types of antipsychotic or neuroleptic medications. Fluphenazine and haloperidol are considered typical neuroleptic medications, and olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, and clozapine are considered atypical neuroleptic medications. Antipsychotic medications are used most often in patients who have chorea along with other psychiatric symptoms, including depression, psychosis, and aggressive behavior.
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Other Medications
An individual who is affected by chorea and unable to tolerate antipsychotic medication may experience improvement in their symptoms by using other medications. Dopamine-depleting agents such as tetrabenazine, reserpine, and deutetrabenazine have proven in multiple studies to improve chorea in some individuals. Reducing the amounts of dopamine is helpful because dopamine is a major neurotransmitter that dictates an individual's control over their movements. Certain types of chorea are the result of overstimulation or hyperactivity of the dopamine receptors, and many of these medications used for chorea work by keeping these receptors from becoming activated. When chorea develops following cardiac transplantation surgery, steroid treatment has proven to help decrease symptoms. Patients affected by an autoimmune-mediated form of chorea called Sydenham's chorea have shown a positive response to intravenous immunoglobulin and plasmapheresis therapy in terms of symptom severity and shortening the course of the illness. These medications are helpful for any illness caused by an inappropriate and abnormal attack on healthy cells by the immune system.
Read more about how to treat chorea now.
