Striatal glucose consumption in chorea-free subjects at risk of Huntington's disease.

Controversial data have been reported with regard to the diagnostic value of the positron emission tomographic (PET) measurement of striatal glucose consumption (rCMRGlc) in chorea-free subjects at risk of Huntington's disease (HD). For further clarification of this issue we measured striatal and cerebellar rCMRGlc in 27 chorea-free subjects at risk of HD, 20 patients with manifest HD and 20 control subjects, using PET and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose. In 6 of the at-risk subjects cerebellar ratios of striatal rCMRGlc were decreased below the corresponding 99% confidence limit determined in the controls. This indicates that the PET measurement of rCMRGlc may, indeed, be valuable in establishing the diagnosis of incipient HD in presymptomatic at-risk subjects.