A Case of Senile Chorea: Considering Huntington’s Disease and Neuroacanthocytosis in differential diagnosis

Abstract

Sporadic chorea presenting after the age of 50 is called “senile chorea”. Senile chorea is a rare entity with a wide differential diagnosis list. Causes of senile chorea include vascular and metabolic diseases, adverse events related to medications, hematologic and immune system diseases, genetic and sporadic neurodegenerative syndromes, and paraneoplastic disorders. Although the most common etiologies are vascular and metabolic disorders, neuroacanthocytosis, Wilson and Huntington diseases are included in the differential diagnosis. Here, we discuss differential diagnosis and approach to late onset chorea based on a case with late onset chorea, whose clinical findings suggested chorea-acanthocytosis at first, but revealed to be Huntington disease after detailed laboratory studies