Chorea in the older adult: a full blooded answer

Chorea is a severe, distressing, movement disorder characterised by excessive, purposeless movements of the limbs, head and orofacial muscles in a generalised and irregularly-timed fashion. In young patients, neurodegenerative (Huntington’s disease) and metabolic (Wilson’s disease) aetiologies are most common. In the older population, the differential widens to include genetic, structural, metabolic and pharmacological causes. We present a case of an older man who developed progressive choreoathetosis secondary to polycythaemia vera which resolved with serial venesections. The treatment of his underlying condition is discussed.