Huntington’s disease is treated in a multi-disciplinary way to address all the symptoms and to help patients in their daily lives. A national diagnosis and care protocol serves as a basis for carers to provide the best possible support for patients and their families.
Because Huntington’s disease is progressive, end-of-life care needs to be discussed and planned at an early stage with the medical profession and the patient’s family and friends.
Research into curative therapies for Huntington’s disease is very active, and new avenues are currently being tested that offer hope.
The centres of reference are key to improving patient care, advancing research and raising awareness of the issues surrounding the disease. The neurogenetics reference centre, part of the Brain Team network of rare diseases of the central nervous system, is coordinated by Professor Alexandra Durr at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital and the Paris Brain Institute.
DRUG TREATMENTS
Antipsychotics can partially suppress chorea and agitation. Antidepressants, anxiolytics and mood modulators are used to treat psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety.
AT THE PARIS BRAIN INSTITUTE
An energy deficit has been identified in Huntington’s disease. Dr Fanny Mochel and Prof Alexandra Durr have demonstrated the effects of a synthetic oil on cerebral metabolism in this disease. The initial results are very encouraging, and a larger-scale study is still under way.
For more information: https://institutducerveau-icm.org/en/actualite/hopes-for-huntington-disease/
The “Gene Therapy” team, led by Dr Nathalie Cartier at the Paris Brain Institute, in collaboration with Alexandra Durr’s team, are conducting a phase I/II therapeutic trial aimed at correcting a defect in a key enzyme involved in cholesterol metabolism, using a viral vector introduced into patients’ brains.