Chorea Gravidarum

Abstract

• In a 23-year-old primigravida with no prior history of rheumatic fever, chorei-form movements developed late in the third trimester, and she died in a state of hyperthermia 14 days later. Results of neuropathological examination showed, as the basis for the chorea, nerve cell loss and astrocytosis within the striatum (especially the caudate nucleus). Analysis of the case in conjunction with a review of the literature strongly suggests that chorea gravidarum should be regarded as a syndrome rather than a specific disease entity.