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A handful of drugs have been examined for use in the treatment of chorea, one of the most common movement disorders in children. Tetrabenazine, a benzoquinolizine compound, depletes dopamine and blocks dopamine receptors. Compared with other therapies, it is associated with fewer long- and short-term side effects (including rare cases of dystonia or neuroleptic malignant syndrome) and no reported cases of tardive dyskinesia. However, high doses of tetrabenazine can cause drug-induced parkinsonism. Chatterjee and Frucht report their experience with 5 consecutive cases of pediatric chorea treated with tetrabenazine.
Several of the children had been treated unsuccessfully with reserpine and other oral medications; all 5 had encephalopathy and w…