Chapter 22 Flashcards
Huntington’s Disease characteristics
- Progressive motor impairments
- Cognitive decline
- Mood and behavioral changes
Duration of Huntington’s Disease
Average: 15-20 years, until death of the patient
Average age of onset of Huntington’s Disease
30-50 years old
Pre-manifest mutation carrier
If motor impairments are absent but the person has 40+CAG repeats
Brain characteristics in Huntington’s Disease
- Damage to parts of the basal ganglia, especially the striatum
- Changes in glucose metabolism in various brain areas
- Fewer dopamine receptors in striatum
- In advanced stages the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, hypothalamus, and thalamus are damaged
Dyskinesia symptoms
- Chorea, involuntary movements
- Hypokinesia, decrease in spontaneous movements
- Bradykinesia, slowness of movement
- Dystonia, impaired muscle tension
- Rigidity
- Eye movement problems
- Difficulty swallowing
- Balance problems
Cognitive symptoms in Huntington’s Disease
- Bradyphrenia, slow information processing
- Intelligence decline, non-verbal goes first
- Memory decline, visible in early stages
- Executive function decline
- Disease unawareness
- Perception decline
- Language and speech
- Emotion and social cognition
Neuropsychiatric symptoms in Huntington’s Disease
- Affective disorders
- Apathy
- Irritability
- Disinhibition
- Compulsiveness
- Psychotic symptoms
Unified Huntington’s Disease Rating Scale
Scale used to measure the severity of the disease
Cerebral palsy
Damage to basal ganglia, cerebellum and white matter tracts
Developmental coordination disorder
Minimal cerebral palsy. Also just known as clumsiness. 5-10% prevalence
Alien hand syndrome
Involuntary reflexive hand movements
Ataxia
Disorder of balance and motor coordination
Apraxia
A disorder of willful actions.
Ideational: inability to plan and execute complex motor sequences
Ideomotor: can’t perform on command or through imitation
Constructive: problems with constructive visuomotor tasks
