Are there replacement, genetic, or functional surgical treatments with promise for HD?
A variety of trials of striatal neurotransplantation have been completed, are underway, or are in planning stages. These trials have raised some ethical and safety questions while demonstrating feasibility, but have not yet demonstrated efficacy. The aggregate experience of these trials does not support the use of these procedures outside of well-designed controlled clinical trials. Nevertheless, neurotransplantation remains an important and promising experimental approach. Stem cell technology and gene therapy approaches are undergoing rapid progress, foreseeable leading to experimental clinical trials for HD within the next several years. There has been limited experience with functional neurosurgery, such as pallidotomy or deep brain stimulation, for HD and significant complications have occurred. These approaches should also be considered experimental.
