Amantadine in the akinetic-rigid variant of Huntington's disease.
OBJECTIVE
To report the effects of amantadine on an akinetic-rigid variant of Huntington's disease (HD).


METHODS
We describe a 36-year-old woman with HD who was treated with intravenous amantadine for 5 days. The woman was evaluated with the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale before and after treatment. Parkinsonism, bradykinesia, and dystonia improved significantly.


CONCLUSIONS
Amantadine is a noncompetitive N-methyl d-aspartate receptor antagonist. It is mainly used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, as it increases dopamine levels in the brain. This effect is said to ameliorate akinesia. Although the effect of amantadine on choreatic dystonia in HD has been reported in several studies, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the ameliorative effects of amantadine on the rigid form of HD. Our patient showed improvements of gait, parkinsonism, and dystonia. Fine-motor tasks and eye movement did not change significantly.


CONCLUSIONS
We suggest that amantadine treatment might be of value to patients with the akinetic-rigid variant of HD.
Magnet
Markus K
MK
Karl-Franzens University Graz, Graz, Austria.
Bonelli
Raphael M
RM
Kapfhammer
Hans-Peter
HP
D000328:Adult; D000547:Amantadine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D000547:Amantadine