Successful treatment of rheumatic chorea with carbamazepine

Hemichorea with antiphospholipid antibodies in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus

“…The choreiformic movements may last several weeks, and repeated episodes have been reported4 as happened in this case.…”

Treatment of Sydenham’s Chorea: A Review of the Current Evidence

“…For example, reports varied on whether they provided the time to improvement of symptoms (10 out of 44),19,25,27,30,35–38,42,55 the time to full remission of symptoms (two out of 44),21,28 or both (13 out of 44) 20,22–24,26,32,33,35,41,44–46,52,53. Nine out of 38 studies reviewed improvement in a chorea score at fixed weekly, monthly, or yearly intervals, rather than reporting the time to an observed improvement or recovery 29,40,47–51,54,56.…”

“…However, this literature review identified significant diversity of antibiotic treatment and/or reporting. Twenty-one studies failed to comment on whether primary or secondary penicillin treatment was utilized19–21,23,25,26,29,31,33–36,39,45,46,48,51,54–56 and 10 reports did not comment on the length of treatment or method of delivery 22,24,28,35,40,42–44,51,53. One study reported primary but not secondary penicillin treatment 47.…”

Hemichorea with antiphospholipid antibodies in a patient with lupus nephritis

“…Some studies have reported that carbamazepine is highly effective in the treatment of rheumatic chorea [11]. However, because aPLs were produced by immunemediated mechanisms, immunosuppressive treatments such as high-dose corticosteroids, cyclophosphamide, and combinations of the two, or methotrexate have been employed in most patients with aPLs-associated chorea [12].…”