[Clinical and neuropsychological characteristics of Huntington's disease: a review].
BACKGROUND
Huntington's disease is a dominant autosomic neurodegenerative disorder. This article's objective is to provide an up-to-date description of the clinical and neuropsychological manifestations over the course of the disease.


METHODS
According to clinical studies, the main characteristics of Huntington's disease include motor deficits, psychiatric problems and cognitive deficits. Many investigations have shown that a fronto-subcortical circuit dysfunction is responsible for these deficits. As the disease progresses, patients tend to have more cognitive difficulties which include attention/concentration problems, slowed cognitive processing, memory and language deficits, visuo-spatial problems and executive functioning difficulties.


CONCLUSIONS
Studies with asymptomatic carriers of Huntington's disease have shown that cognitive deterioration may begin long before a clinical diagnosis of the disease is possible.
Grupo de Neurociencias, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia. lasprilla50@hotmail.com
J C
JC
Arango-Lasprilla
J
J
Iglesias-Dorado
F
F
Lopera
D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology