Senile plaques in Huntington's disease: a preliminary report.

The brains of 10 patients with Huntington's disease (HD) were studied for the presence of senile plaques (SP), neurofibrillary tangles, and granulovacuolar degeneration in the frontobasal, the parietal and occipital cortices and the anterior and posterior hippocampus. Five had died at a mean age of 42 years and 5 at one of 74 years. Senile plaques were found in 3 of 5 elderly HD patients and no were found in the young group. This finding supports the hypothesis that dementia in HD is not related to the presence of senile changes of the Alzheimer type.