Late adult onset chorea with typical pathology of Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome

Senile chorea is a well recognised but poorly understood clinical entity ch aracterised by a slowly progressive, generalised chorea in elderly people w ithout mental deterioration or a clear underlying cause. The Hallervorden-S patz syndrome is typically thought of as a paediatric condition with extrap yramidal features and dementia. However, it has been described in adults us ually presenting with parkinsonism plus dementia. An elderly woman with slo wly progressive chorea without dementia was found at postmortem to have the pathological features originally described by Hallervorden and Spatz. This association has not previously been reported.