Brain stimulation in Huntington's disease

Abstract

Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder which is associated with severe disturbances of motor function, especially choreatic movements, cognitive decline and psychiatric symptoms. Various brain stimulation methods have been used to study brain function in patients with HD. Moreover, brain stimulation has evolved as an alternative or additive treatment option, besides current symptomatic medical treatment. This article summarizes the results of brain stimulation to better understand the characteristics of cortical excitability and plasticity in HD and gives a perspective on the therapeutic role for noninvasive and invasive neuromodulatory brain stimulation methods.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02535884.

Keywords: Huntington's disease; deep brain stimulation; transcranial brain stimulation.