Neuroimaging Studies

We have conducted a series of clinical studies to define the course and progression of Huntington’s disease in patients. We have used volumetric structural MRI imaging to show the steady atrophy of the caudate and putamen of the striatum in the basal ganglia, the main area affected in HD, and have proposed that this measure may be a useful biomarker for clinical trials. More recently we have shown structural change begins well before the onset of HD in gene positive presymptomatic individuals. Our data have helped to provide the background for the multi-center PREDICT HD study (see Clinical Trials). We are currently using functional MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures to demonstrate functional changes and changes in white matter connectivity very early in the presymptomatic gene positive population.

Click here for the Psychiatric Neuroimaging Division.

For research information, please contact:

Claire Welsh
Sr. Research Program Coordinator
600 North Wolfe Street, Meyer 2-181
Baltimore, MD 21287
Telephone: 410-955-1349
E-mail: cswelsh@jhmi.edu