title: Chorea as the first sign in a patient with elderly-onset systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: The case of an elderly patient who had chorea as an initial symptom of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) accompanied by antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is reported. A 68-year-old woman suddenly developed chorea of her left arm and leg. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain demonstrated a focal lesion in the right caudate head, which showed hyperintensity on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery and diffusion-weighted imaging. This condition was thought to be a common form of vascular chorea, which is likely to occur in elderly individuals; however, the laboratory data of this patient finally fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of SLE and APS. Physicians should be careful in diagnosing elderly individuals simply as having a vascular chorea because this symptom can be the initial manifestation of SLE or APS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Brain Research Institute Niigata University, Niigata 951-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ariizumi
authors.forename: Tetsutaro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ozawa
authors.forename: Takayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tokutake
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katada
authors.forename: Shuichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Masatoyo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishizawa