Cortical control of movement in Huntington's disease. A PET activation study.

Regional cerebral blood flow was measured with H2(15)O PET in seven patients with choreic Huntington's disease and seven age-matched control subjects. Subjects were scanned at rest and when performing paced joystick movements, in freely chosen directions, with the dominant arm. During movement, the patients showed impaired activation of contralateral primary motor, medial premotor, bilateral parietal and bilateral prefrontal areas along with increased activation of bilateral insular areas. The underactivity of frontal areas in Huntington's disease is similar to the pattern of impaired activation in Parkinson's disease and is likely to result from degeneration of basal ganglia to frontal projections. Primary motor underactivity may explain the bradykinesia that these patients exhibit and, if inhibitory neurons are involved, also their chorea.