Huntington's Disease: Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited disorder that causes death of brain cells. The progression of the disease presents itself with increasingly debilitating signs such as lack of coordination, unsteady gait, jerky body movements, inability to talk and dementia. HD is considered to be an inherited disease, but 10% of all cases of HD may be due to acquired mutations of genes. It is caused due to an autosomal dominant mutation in either of the two copies of the Huntingtin gene of an individual. There exists no cure for HD. Towards the later stages of the disease, the patient requires full-time care. Nutrition management becomes increasingly important as dysphagia and muscle discoordination lead to eating difficulties and weight loss. Therapy seeks to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life. Tetrabenazine, neuroleptics and benzodiazepines are certain medications with proven results for treatment of chorea in HD. This book presents the causes, diagnosis and therapeutic advances in Huntington's disease in the most comprehensible language. Different approaches, evaluations, methodologies and advanced studies on HD have been included in this book. As the field of neurology is emerging at a fast pace, this book will help the readers to better understand the latest research and therapeutic advances.