FINGERPRINT PATTERNS IN HUNTINGTON'S CHOREA AND PARKINSON'S DISEASE.

In the course of a continuing search for means of predicting Huntington's chorea before the onset of neurological symptoms, a study of fingerprint patterns was undertaken, using the technique employed by Hodges and Simon in the investigation of patients with Wilson's disease. Fingerprint patterns of 61 patients with Huntington's chorea and 50 with Parkinson's disease were compared with norms established by Scotland Yard. Although an increased incidence of the "whorl" pattern was seen in the left second and third fingers in patients with Huntington's chorea, this finding could not be interpreted as having diagnostic or prognostic value as it was found also in some normal subjects and in occasional cases of Parkinson's disease. The pattern supposedly characteristic of Wilson's disease was also seen in persons with Huntington's chorea.