Measurement of caudate nucleus area - a more accurate measurement for Huntington's disease?

Caudate nucleus atrophy occurs in Huntington's disease and methods of measuring this have been described using axial CT, but these are indirect and lack sensitivity. We measured caudate nucleus area (blind to the subjects' clinical state) in 30 subjects with or at risk of Huntington's disease, and in 100 normal age matched controls. Fifteen subjects with established symptomatic Huntington's disease, 3 with early symptoms, and 3 presymptomatic subjects (2 showing a high probability for the Huntington's disease gene on genetic testing, and one who has since developed symptoms) were correctly identified. Three normal (gene negative) family members were also correctly identified. Outcome is awaited in 6. CT caudate area measurement is simple and reproducible and we have found it to be a useful confirmatory test for Huntington's disease. (orig.)