Poster 11: Striatal Volume Distinguishes Converters from Non-Converters: Findings from PREDICT-HD

Objective To present data from 32 converter participants and 80 matched non-converter participants from the PREDICT-HD study. Methods All participants were prodromal when they enrolled in the study and all were examined yearly for at least one visit following enrollment. Converters were defined as those individuals who, on at least two consecutive visits, received a score of 4 on the HD Diagnostic Confidence Scale of the UHDRS. Non-converters were individuals who had at least two visits and never received a score of 4. Converters and non-converters were group-matched on age, gender, and CAG repeat length. MRI measurements were obtained for 4 converters 2 years before diagnosis, for 11 converters 1 year before diagnosis, and for 17 converters at the same visit that the diagnosis was made. Results and Discussion After correcting for intracranial volume (ICV), converters had significantly smaller total brain volume (p = 0.001), total white matter volume (p = 0.004), and total striatum volume (p