Chorea in Huntington Disease
Huntington disease (HD) is a hereditary progressive neurodegenerative disorder in which destruction of neuronal cells in the brain results in motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms. Symptoms generally appear between the ages of 30 to 50 and worsen over a 10 to 25-year period. Many patients with HD experience chorea, a troublesome involuntary movement disorder, in which patients develop sudden, irregular, unpredictable, and non-stereotyped movements. Chorea can affect various body parts, and may interfere with speech, swallowing, posture, and gait.
Roughly 90% of the approximately 41,000 patients in the U.S. diagnosed with HD will develop chorea over the course of the disease.