PATHOLOGIC CHANGES IN HUNTINGTON'S CHOREA

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The literature of chronic progressive according to Good,1dates back to 1842, when Dr. C. O. Waters of Franklin, New York, described in a letter to Dr. Dunglison a peculiar form of chorea, which he said was markedly hereditary, rarely appeared before adult life, was incurable, and always induced dementia. The common people called this disease megrims. Dr. George Huntington,2in an article on chorea published in 1872, gave first good description of disease which now bears his name; he called it the hereditary chorea. Huntington's father and grandfather had both practiced medicine in eastern end of Long Island for a period conjointly covering seventy-eight years, and had been acquainted with families in which chorea had existed for generations. Huntington believed that disease existed almost exclusively on eastern end of Long Island, where it was confined to a few families.