Diagnosis of Huntington disease is confirmed by demonstration of autosomal dominant transmission or gene testing in the presence of clinical features.[4]
The clinical features of Huntington disease consist of motor, cognitive, and neuropsychiatric manifestations. Huntington disease has a biphasic course of hyperkinetic phase with chorea in the early stages of disease that then plateaus into a hypokinetic phase, consisting of bradykinesia dystonia, balance issues, and gait disturbance. The younger-onset variant is associated with predominant bradykinesia.[5]Cognitive disturbance can be seen many years before other symptom onset and is characterized by impaired emotion recognition, processing speed, and executive function abnormality. Neuropsychiatric symptoms widely vary, including apathy, anxiety, irritability, depression, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and psychosis.
Numerous conditions can mimic Huntington disease, including a spinal cerebellar ataxia 17, spinocerebellar ataxia 1-3, and Friedreich ataxia, which involve neuropathy. If seizures are also present, dentatorubropallidoluysian atrophy should be considered. Acanthocytes are seen in patients with neuroacanthocytosis.[6,7,8] Isolated chorea can be seen in acquired conditions, including chorea gravidarum, systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome, thyrotoxicosis, postinfectious syndromes, polycythemia vera, and some drug use.
Genetic testing for the mHTT mutation can be either diagnostic or predictive.[5] A diagnostic test may be performed when a patient presents with typical motor features of Huntington disease. Prior to testing, the patient should be informed about Huntington disease and its hereditary nature, as a positive test result has implications for the patient and family. Predictive testing is performed in asymptomatic patients, mostly for reproductive reasons.
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Cite this: Niranjan N. Singh. Neuro Case Challenge: A 35-Year-Old With Angry, Aggressive Outbursts, Memory Loss, and Insomnia - Medscape - Oct 04, 2022.
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