Huntington's disease (HD) is a degenerative brain disease that leads to uncontrolled movements, mood and behavior changes, and cognitive decline.

HD is an autosomal dominant inherited disease, which means that someone with a parent who has HD has a 50 percent chance of inheriting the gene for the disease.

Symptoms of Huntington’s Disease

Early symptoms of HD, such as mood swings and fidgeting movements, can appear between ages 35 and 50 and as the disease progresses over time. Other symptoms include:

• Uncontrolled movements or choreia (Latin term for dance)
• Psychiatric symptoms such as depression, mood swings, anxiety, and psychosis
• Cognitive decline
• Gait problems and falling

Diagnosis

Patients at risk for HD can undergo genetic testing in the form of a blood test. Comprehensive genetic counseling is recommended for the patients and their families.

Treatment

There is currently no cure for HD, but some medications can control the involuntary movements and emotional symptoms associated with the disease.

Tetrabenazine (Xenazine) can be offered for disabling choreia; antidepressant medications can be helpful for emotional symptoms.

Huntington's Disease Clinic

We are pleased to announce the organization of a multidisciplinary Huntington’s Disease Clinic as part of the Duke University Movement Disorders Center. The clinic is directed by Burton Scott, MD, and currently takes place once a month on a Friday afternoon, usually the third Friday of the month.

At the clinic we are pleased to be able to offer the services of speech therapy, physical and occupational therapy, as well as a social worker, and movement disorders specialists. Mary Edmondson, MD, provides expert psychiatric care to the clinic, and our clinical trials coordinator is present as well.

Clinical Trials

In an effort to improve treatment of HD, we are enrolling HD patients and unaffected volunteers into HD clinical trials at Duke. There are currently three clinical trials underway at our clinic, with more to come.

The three current HD clinical trials are:

• COHORT -- which is an observational study of HD patients and their family members. No drug intervention is involved in this study.
• 2CARE -- which is a placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial of high dose Coenzyme Q10 in HD.
• HORIZON -- which is a placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial of dimebon in HD. The study will examined whether the study drug has an affect on memory decline in HD.

HD subjects and their family members can enroll in clinical trials by contacting our clinical trials coordinator Sarah Wyne at 919-668-2837, and HD patients can be scheduled for evaluation at the Duke HD Clinic by contacting Ginger Williams at 919-668-2493.

The Duke HD Clinic is a member organization in the NC Center for the Care of Huntington’s Disease (NC-CCHD), which is a collaboration among HD centers at Duke, Wake Forest University, and UNC-Chapel Hill.

For more information contact us at hdinfo@nc-cchd.org or 919-803-8128.