How Is Chorea Treated?

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.

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