Treatment includes levodopa and anticholinergic drugs. Experimental transplants of fetal brain tissue or autologous adrenal tissue have been tried in some cases, but overall the results are not promising. Signs of frontal or temporal lobe degeneration as well as behavioral abnormalities and extrapyramidal symptoms may be present. Very marked neuronal loss and gliosis in areas with ballooned neurons and intracytoplasmic Pick bodies . Symptoms reflect the involvement of the basal ganglia and the neocortex.
Many patients show psychotic behavior.
Chorea is worsened by emotional stress. Chorea may precede or follow the changes in personality and intellect. The duration of the disease is about 15 years. Grossly, the brain in Huntington s disease is characterized by atrophy of the caudate nucleus which is visible on CT scans. The normally rounded head of the caudate becomes flattened, then concave.