Clinical Features of Huntingtons Disease - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 9
About This Presentation
Title:

Clinical Features of Huntingtons Disease

Description:

HD is an inherited degenerative disorder which affects both body and mind. ... HD strikes most often in middle age (50's). However in 10% of cases, onset occurs ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:89
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 10
Provided by: carly6
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Clinical Features of Huntingtons Disease


1
Clinical Features of Huntingtons Disease
  • By Carly Lewis

2
What is Huntingtons Disease (HD)?
  • HD is an inherited degenerative disorder which
    affects both body and mind. It was first
    described by Dr. George Huntington in 1872.
  • It is associated with cell loss within a specific
    subset of neurons in the basal ganglia and
    cortex.
  • It is a progressive disorder- which means it gets
    worse as time goes on.

3
  • It affects 1 in every 10,000-20,000 people and is
    found in all races and in both sexes.
  • HD strikes most often in middle age (50s).
    However in 10 of cases, onset occurs in
    childhood (Juvenile onset of HD). It may also
    occur in old age. However, both these cases are
    rare.
  • Sadly, death occurs within 15 years after
    diagnosis.

4
  • Some symptoms of HD include dementia, severe
    depression, chorea, aggressiveness, memory loss
    and clumsiness. In the juvenile cases of HD
    seizures may occur.
  • These symptoms vary considerably between patients
    and can also change over time- usually starting
    as subtle differences and progressing to profound
    disability.

5
Symptoms of HD
  • Huntingtons Disease produces 3 types of
    symptoms- movement, cognitive and psychiatric.
    The sequence in which they develop vary from
    person to person.

6
  • Movement Uncontrolled movements (or tics) may
    develop in the fingers, feet or face. This may
    progress into Chorea- which are rapid involuntary
    movement of muscles under which the patient has
    no control.
  • They are brief and irregular and appear to flow
    from one muscle to another.
  • HD is commonly called Huntingtons Chorea from
    the Greek word to dance, because of the jerky,
    almost dance like movements of patients with the
    disease.

7
Cognitive Symptoms
  • Over time judgement, memory and other cognitive
    functions begin to deteriorate into dementia.
  • The ability to concentrate lessens resulting in
    difficulty in a number of things driving,
    making decisions, answering questions,
    recognising familiar objects, places and faces.

8
Psychiatric Symptoms
  • Early psychiatric symptoms of HD are varied and
    often overlooked.
  • Depression is the most common psychiatric
    symptom, and often develops early in the course
    of the disease.
  • Signs of depression include
  • Irritability
  • Apathy
  • Lack of energy

9
References
  • Kansas University Medical Centre (Dec 1995),
    Caring for people with Huntington's Disease,
    www.kumc.edu
  • US National Library of Medicine, (May 2004),
    Genetics Home Reference, ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition
    HuntingtonsDisease.
  • Contact a family UK charity, (2004), Huntington's
    Disease, www.cafamily.org.uk/Direct/h5l.html
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com