Huntington's disease described as hereditary chorea
Enfermedad de Huntington descrita como corea hereditaria
- Date
- 1872 · confidence high
- Place
- Middleport, Ohio, United States
- Credited to
- George Huntington
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
At just 22, Huntington presented his paper 'On Chorea' to the Meigs and Mason Academy of Medicine, drawing on generations of patients that his father and grandfather, also rural doctors, had tracked on Long Island, establishing the disease's hereditary pattern, late onset and mental decline.
What it led to
- Recognition of Huntington's chorea as a clinical entity distinct from other choreas
- Pioneering use of the family pedigree as a tool for studying hereditary disease
- The clinical basis for locating the HTT gene and the predictive genetic test a century later