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Hello Dean, at 10 Jan 96 you wrote the following in the newsgroup Archiv.Parkinson about _How closely related is Huntingtons chorea_: > I am new to your list service and have a girlfriend with >Huntingtons chorea in her family. I was specifically looking for >information on Huntingtons, but I understand that it is very similar if >not related to PD. My girlfriends mother as well as grandmother have >been diagnosed as having Huntingtons. My girlfriend has not yet had >any symptoms but is currently contemplating testing at the University >of California, San Francisco. They seem to be the only facility in >California that does this type of testing. Any information or >suggested treatment for similar PD/Huntingtons type symptoms would be >appreciated. Thank you, Deane Burk > [log in to unmask] Huntington's Chorea (HC) is a little bit difference from Parkinson's Disease (PD). The common thing among them is that both interfere with your movement control, both involve similar brain areas (called the 'basal ganglia'). The differences are that PD in almost any case is idiopathic (i.e. no one knows the cause yet, especially it is _not_ genetically transmitted except some very rare cases), while HC is transmitted autosomal dominant (I hope that is the right english spelling), which means that, if one of your parents has HC, you will get it as well - a person without HC symptoms can not be the carrier of the HC gene. The problem is that in most cases the symptoms don't show off before the age of 30 till 50 yrs so that many persons already do have children, when they become symptomatic of HC. For this reason, genetic testing has been developped. There is one problem with testing: Up to now, no cure exists for HC, and if you are tested positiv at a pretty young age, you almost know for sure that you will become ill of HC (which finally ends up in dementia - another difference to the majority of PD cases). So, testing only should be done in special centers, where the person to be tested not only gets a test result, but also profound counselling and advice. I think, your girlfriend should contact a neurologist who will refer her to a counselling center of human genetics specialized in HC. Oh, I almost forgot to say something about HC symptoms (but you may know them from your gf's family): They are hyperkinetic (means 'too much') movements, mostly in the remote ends of arms and legs, but can also be seen in the face - while in most PD cases the problem is the contrary, hypokinetic movements (means 'too little'). Most of those choreatic movements in HC are a lot more coarse than the fine movements associated with PD's tremor. I hope that helps a little, Yours, Stephan --------------------------------------------------------------------- * Stephan Blaschke, [log in to unmask], Gelsenkirchen (Germany) * ---------------------------------------------------------------------