Huntington disease (HD) is caused by mutation of a gene on the autosomal chromosome number 4. It is a familial disease in which a child of an HD parent has a chance of 50% of having HD. A person who carries the HD gene may have an outbreak of symptoms in any ages. The early symptoms involve irritability, mood swings, difficulty in learning new things or making a decision. When the disease progresses, cerebral cortex is damaged, and the patients may exhibit difficulty in thinking or unable to perform any stepwise tasks; for example, the patient is unable to feed himself or herself. To diagnose HD, a physician can screen for the HD mutant in a person’s genome in addition to observing his or her medical history, neurological test, and other lab tests.

Treatments

To date HD is an incurable disease. While many research are looking for ways to cure HD, the goals of treatment are alleviating the symptoms, preventing complications, and providing support to the patient and those who are involved with the patient. Many types of prescriptions such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, tranquilizers, mood-stabilizers, and botulinum toxin are used to control the patients’ emotions and to help their movement problems. The symptoms and drug treatments are listed below.

*** Symptoms: hallucinations, delusions, violence *** Drugs: Antipsychotics: haloperidol, chlorpromazine, olanzapine (contraindicated if patient has dystonia)

*** Symptoms: depression, obsessive-compulsive behavior *** Drugs: Antidepressants: fluoxetine, sertraline hydrochloride, nortriptyline

*** Syptoms: anxiety, chorea *** Drugs: Tranquilizers: benzodiazepines, paroxetine, venlafaxin, beta-blockers

*** Symptoms: mania, bipolar disorder *** Drugs: Mood-stablizers: lithium, valproate, carbamazepine

*** Symptoms: dystonia, jaw clenching *** Drugs: Botulinum toxin