Scientists have identified a set of tests that could help identify whether and how Huntington’s disease (HD) is progressing in groups of people who are not yet showing symptoms. The latest findings from the TRACK-HD study, published Online First in The Lancet Neurology, could be used to assess whether potential new treatments are slowing the disease up to 10 years before the development of noticeable symptoms.
Writing in a linked Comment, Francis O. Walker, M.D., Neurology from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center says that the TRACK-HD investigators have set the standard for observational studies in other neurodegenerative diseases, adding that, “Virtual roadmaps of disease in the minds of practitioners are good for care in the framework of the traditional patient encounter, but it takes substantial effort, teamwork, and genius to turn them into rigorous, quantifiable timelines that can be used to test efficacy in future therapeutic trials.”
For a free abstract of the paper: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanneurol/article/PIIS1474-4422(13)70088-7/abstract
Writing in a linked Comment, Francis O. Walker, M.D., Neurology from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center says that the TRACK-HD investigators have set the standard for observational studies in other neurodegenerative diseases, adding that, “Virtual roadmaps of disease in the minds of practitioners are good for care in the framework of the traditional patient encounter, but it takes substantial effort, teamwork, and genius to turn them into rigorous, quantifiable timelines that can be used to test efficacy in future therapeutic trials.”
For a free abstract of the paper: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanneurol/article/PIIS1474-4422(13)70088-7/abstract
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