Chorea induced by the use of oral contraceptives. Report of a case and review of the literature.

A rare complication of oral contraceptive therapy is the induction of chorea. We describe the case-history of a young woman who developed generalized chorea while receiving a low-dose estrogen-containing contraceptive. Dyskinesia resolved upon discontinuing the medication and after a brief treatment with an antidopaminergic agent. The literature of chorea associated with oral contraceptives and the different hypotheses about its pathogenesis are reviewed.