In patients that have cerebral palsy as the cause of their athetosis, it has been demonstrated that a subthalamotomy tends to help relieve the extent of athetosis in approximately half of patients. Additionally, late 19th and early 20th century surgical accounts state that athetosis can be relieved by the removal of a part of the cerebral motor cortex or by cutting a part of the posterior spinal roots. Patients who undergo surgical treatment to relieve the athetosis often see significant improvement in the control of their limbs and digits. While surgery is often very beneficial in the short term and can produce near immediate results, in the long term it has been seen that its effects are not incredibly long lasting. Related disorders
Choreoathetosis
Chorea is another condition which results from damage to the basal ganglia. Similar to athetosis, it results from mutations affecting the pallidum inhibition of the thalamus as well as increased dopaminergic activity at the level of the striatum. Considering the etiology of both disorders are fairly similar, it comes as no surprise that chorea and athetosis can and usually do occur together in a condition called choreoathetosis. Cerebral palsy
Athetosis is a commonly occurring symptom in the disease cerebral palsy. Of all people with the disease, between 16% and 25% of them actually exhibit the symptom of athetosis.
By doing so it frees the thalamus from pallidal inhibition allowing the thalamus to send excitatory outputs to the cortex. Therefore, the lesions to the thalamus or any other part of this feedback loop can result in movement disorders as they can alter the reactivity of one towards the other. Also, in a case of people with thalamic stroke, a majority suffered severe sensory deficits and ataxia. It is proposed that this loss of proprioception and the ensuing loss of synergic stabilization may also lead to abnormal movements, such as those dealt with in athetosis. Fahrs syndrome
Treatments
There are several different treatment approaches to dealing with athetosis. The most common methods are the use of drugs, surgical intervention, and retraining movements of the afflicted person. It is suggested that training a person to relearn movements can be helpful in select situations. Though, generally, this type of treatment will not work, in certain cases it can be found to be very helpful in treating the symptom of athetosis.Drugs can also be used in the treatment of athetosis, however their collective effectiveness is not very convincing. There is not a single drug that is a standard among treatment. Many different medicines can be used, including:

Artane
Cogentin
Curare, though not practical due to respiratory paralysis
Tetrabenazine
Haloperidol
Thiopropazate
DiazepamMost instances of drug use where the symptoms seem to be lessened tend to be in more mild cases of athetosis.Treatment by surgical intervention can obviously have the most immediate impact, again however, it is not a cure-all.