Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease

n.

See hereditary chorea.

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Huntington's disease

A rare hereditary condition that causes progressive chorea (jerky muscle movements) and mental deterioration that ends in dementia. Huntington's symptoms usually appear in patients in their 40s. There is no effective treatment.

Mentioned in: Movement Disorders

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Huntington's disease

Etymology: George S. Huntington, American physician, 1851-1916

a rare abnormal hereditary condition characterized by chronic progressive chorea and mental deterioration that results in dementia. An individual afflicted with the condition usually shows the first signs in the fourth decade of life and dies within 15 years. It is transmitted as an autosomal trait and becomes progressively worse in severity as the trinucleotide repeats grow in successive generations. There is no known effective treatment, but symptoms can be relieved with medication.

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Huntington's disease

Huntington's chorea Neurology An AD degenerative disease of adult onset–ages 40-50 that leads inexorably to death Clinical Slowly progressive mood and personality changes, mental deterioration, loss of coordination, chorea, cognitive decline, chronic fatigue, apathy Treatment None. See 'Escapee.', Trinucleotide repeat disease.