Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2022 Dec 22:13:1074156.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.1074156. eCollection 2022.

Unilateral upper limb chorea associated with hyperthyroidism: A case report and literature review

Wei Chen  1 , Bin Wu  1 , Hongna An  1 , Kaiying Zheng  1 , Daming Zhai  1 , Jiahua Zang  1 , Xiaobing Wu  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Unilateral upper limb chorea associated with hyperthyroidism: A case report and literature review

Wei Chen et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Chorea, a hyperkinetic syndrome, is generally reported in patients with Huntington's disease (HD), hyperglycemia, and other diseases but occasionally occurs in patients with Grave's disease. Here, we report a 44-year-old woman presenting with a 1-year history of involuntary movements with a known history of primary hyperthyroidism. Physical examination revealed the continuous, rapid, irregular, and spontaneous choreic movement of her right arm. Laboratory investigations demonstrated increased triiodothyronine (T3) and free thyroxine (FT4) and suppressed thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels. An electroencephalogram and brain magnetic resonance imaging were normal. After antithyroid treatment, the patient achieved complete remission. Our case indicated that hemichorea might initially manifest hyperthyroidism. Therefore, thyroid function tests should be routinely performed in patients with chorea.

Keywords: Graves' disease; chorea; hyperthyroidism; initial presentation; involuntary movement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

  • Chorea due to Graves' Hyperthyroidism.
    Nakatake N, Usami H, Shibayama H. Nakatake N, et al. AACE Clin Case Rep. 2025 Jan 29;11(2):158-159. doi: 10.1016/j.aace.2025.01.003. eCollection 2025 Mar-Apr. AACE Clin Case Rep. 2025. PMID: 40201457 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

References

    1. Burn D. Oxford Textbook of Movement Disorders. London: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. (2015).
    1. Talukder P, Jana A, Dhar S, Ghosh S. Huntington's chorea-a rare neurodegenerative autosomal dominant disease: insight into molecular genetics, prognosis and diagnosis. Appl Biochem Biotechnol. (2021) 193:2634–48. 10.1007/s12010-021-03523-x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sasaki T, Suzuki Y, Sato M. Hyperglycemic chorea. Oxf Med Case Rep. (2021) 2021:omab118. 10.1093/omcr/omab118 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Laban T, Larroche C, Comparon C, Dhote R, Degos B. Fluoxetine-induced chorea. Rev Neurol. (2021) 177:1010–1. 10.1016/j.neurol.2020.12.007 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bovenzi R, Conti M, Cerroni R, Pierantozzi M, Stefani A, Pisani A, et al. . Adult-onset sporadic chorea: real-world data from a single-centre retrospective study. Neurol Sci. (2021) 43:387–92. 10.1007/s10072-021-05332-w - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources