Zusammenfassung
Bei der Chorea Huntington (HD) handelt es sich um eine autosomal-dominant vererbte Erkrankung des zentralen Nervensystems, die mit charakteristischen neurodegenerativen Veränderungen im Bereich der Basalganglien und des Kortex einhergeht. Obwohl das klinische Bild ebenso von kognitiven Defiziten und psychiatrischen Verhaltensauffälligkeiten gekennzeichnet ist, wird die HD aufgrund der beteiligten neurodegenerativen Veränderungen und charakteristischen Bewegungsstörungen üblicherweise dem neurologischen Fach zugeordnet. Im Gegensatz zu den traditionell betonten Kernmerkmalen „Chorea“ und „Demenz“ fokussiert die jüngere Wissenschaftsliteratur auf das Auftreten von nichtchoreatischen Bewegungsstörungen, subtilen kognitiven Defiziten und psychiatrischen Auffälligkeiten und zwar sowohl bei asymptomatischen Genträgern als auch in frühen Erkrankungsstadien. Die beiden folgenden Falldarstellungen illustrieren die enorme phänotypische Bandbreite der HD und veranschaulichen die damit assoziierten differenzialdiagnostischen Schwierigkeiten im klinischen Alltag. Es wird eine Literaturübersicht über die Vielfalt klinischer Manifestationen der HD gegeben und das differenzialdiagnostische Potenzial von neuropsychologischen Untersuchungsansätzen aufgezeigt.
Summary
Huntington’s disease (HD) is an autosomal, dominant, inherited disorder of the central nervous system with characteristic neurodegenerative alterations in the basal ganglia and cortex. Dependent on the individual CAG expansion load, disease onset occurs between the third or fourth decade of life, entailing an invariably lethal progression within 10 to 20 years. Although the clinical picture is characterized equally by cognitive and psychiatric disturbances, the apparent neurodegenerative alterations and presentation as a choreatic movement disorder account for the traditional link of Huntington’s disease to the field of neurology. In contrast to the traditionally emphasized core features of chorea and dementia, recent empirical evidence points to the frequent emergence of nonchoreatic motor signs and subtle cognitive and psychiatric complaints, especially in asymptomatic gene carriers and early disease stages. The case studies presented here emphasize the spectrum of neuropsychiatric phenomena associated with HD and illustrate the resulting difficulties of differential diagnosis in clinical settings. Furthermore, current scientific knowledge of HD pleiotrophy is reviewed and the diagnostic power of specific neuropsychological approaches is explained.
Literatur
The Huntington’s Disease Collaborative Research Group (1993) A novel gene containing a trinucleotide repeat that is expanded and unstable on Huntington’s disease chromosomes. The Huntington’s Disease Collaborative Research Group. Cell 72:971–983
Anderson KE, Louis ED, Stern Y, Marder KS (2001) Cognitive correlates of obsessive and compulsive symptoms in Huntington’s disease. Am J Psychiatry 158:799–801
Bradshaw JL, Phillips JG, Dennis C et al. (1992) Initiation and execution of movement sequences in those suffering frorn and at-risk of developing Huntington’s disease. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 14:179–192
Brandt J, Shpritz B, Codori AM, Margolis R, Rosenblatt A (2002) Neuropsychological manifestations of the genetic mutation for Huntington’s disease in presymptomatic individuals. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 8:918–924
Brandt JA, Bylsma FW (1993) The dementia of Huntington’s Disease. In: Parks RW (ed) Neuropsychology of Alzheimer’s Desease and other dementias. Oxford Univ Press, New York, pp 265–281
Como PG, Rubin AJ, O’Brien CF et al. (1997) A controlled trial of fluoxetine in nondepressed patients with Huntington’s disease. Mov Disord 12:397–401
Cummings JL, Cunningham K (1992) Obsessive-compulsive disorder in Huntingtan’s disease. Biol Psychiatry 31:263–270
de Boo GM, Tibben A, Lanser JB, Jennekens-Schinkel A, Hermans J, Maat-Kievit A, Roos RA (1997) Early cognitive and motor symptoms in identified carriers of the gene for Huntington disease. Arch Neurol 54:1353–1357
Folstein S, Abbott MH, Chase GA, Jensen BA, Folstein MF (1983) The association of affective disorder with Huntington’s disease in a case series and in families. Psychol Med 13:537–542
Folstein SE, Leigh RJ, Parhad IM, Folstein MF (1986) The diagnosis of Huntington’s disease. Neurology 36:1279–1283
Halliday GM, McRitchie DA, Macdonald V, Double KL, Trent RJ, McCusker E (1998) Regional specificity of brain atrophy in Huntington’s disease. Exp Neurol 154:663–672
Hauser RA, Furtado S, Cimino CR et al. (2002) Bilateral human fetal striatal transplantation in Huntington’s disease. Neurology 58:687–695
Huntington Study Group (1996) Unified Huntington’s disease rating scale: reliability and consistency. Mov Disord 11:136–142
Kandel ER (1999) Biology and the future of psychoanalysis: a new intellectual framework for psychiatry revisited. Am J Psychiatry 156:505–524
Kirkwood SC, Siemers E, Stout JC, Hodes ME, Conneally PM, Christian JC, Foroud T (1999) Longitudinal cognitive and motor changes among presymptomatic Huntington disease gene carriers. Arch Neurol 56:563–568
Kremer B, Clark CM, Almqvist EW et al. (1999) Influence of lamotrigine on progression of early Huntington disease: a randomized clinical trial. Neurology 53:1000–1011
Marder K, Sandler S, Lechich A, Klager J, Albert SM (2002) Relationship between CAG repeat length and late-stage outcomes in Huntington’s disease. Neurology 59:1622–1624
Merino JG (2000) Neurology and psychiatry: closing the great divide. Neurology 55:602–603
Paulsen JS, Ready RE, Hamilton JM, Mega MS, Cummings JL (2001) Neuropsychiatric aspects of Huntingtan’s disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 71:310–314
Paulsen JS, Zhao H, Stout JC et al. (2001) Clinical markers of early disease in persons near onset of Huntington’s disease. Neurology 57:658–662
Price BH, Adams RD, Coyle JT (2000) Neurology and psychiatry: closing the great divide. Neurology 54:8–14
Sánchez-Pernaute R, Künig G et al. (2000) Bradykinesia in early Huntington’s disease. Neurology 54:119–125
Siemers E, Foroud T, Bill DJ et al. (1996) Motor changes in presymptomatic Huntington disease gene carriers. Arch Neurol 53:487–492
Snowden J, Craufurd D, Griffiths H, Thompson J, Neary D (2001) Longitudinal evaluation of cognitive disorder in Huntington’s disease. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 7:33–44
Sprengelmeyer R, Lange H, Homberg V (1995) The pattern of attentional deficits in Huntington’s disease. Brain 118:145–152
Squitieri F, Berardelli A, Nargi E et al. (2000) Atypical movement disorders in the early stages of Huntington’s disease: clinical and genetic analysis. Clin Genet 58:50–56
Squitieri F, Cannella M, Gialionardo P, Maglione V, Mariotti C, Hayden MR (2001) Onset and pre-onset studies to define the Huntington’s disease natural history. Brain Res Bull 56:233–238
van Vugt JP, Siesling S, Vergeer M, van der Velde EA, Roos RA (1997) Clozapine versus placebo in Huntington’s disease: a double blind randomised comparative study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 63:35–39
Wheeler JS, Sax DS, Krane RJ, Siroky MB (1985) Vesico-urethral function in Huntington’s chorea. Br J Urol 57:63–66
Woldag H, Strenge S, Weise K (1997) Diagnostische Probleme bei einer juvenilen Chorea Huntington. Nervenarzt 68:667–670
Zuccato C, Ciammola A, Rigamonti D et al. (2001) Loss of huntingtin-mediated BDNF gene transcription in Huntington’s disease. Science 293:493–498
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tost, H., Schmitt, A., Brassen, S. et al. Neuropsychiatrische Aspekte der Chorea Huntington. Nervenarzt 75, 258–266 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-003-1594-2
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-003-1594-2