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The final PET-scan assessment showed increased metabolic activity in various subnuclei of the striatum in three of five patients, contrasting with the progressive decline recorded in the two other patients in the series, as seen in patients with untreated Huntington's disease. Small areas of even higher metabolic activity, coregistering with spherical hyposignals on MRI were also present in the same three patients, suggesting that grafts were functional. Accordingly, motor and cognitive fu nctions were improved or maintained within the normal range, and functional benefits were seen in daily-life activities in these three patients, but not in the other two. Fetal neural allografts could be associated with functional, motor, and cognitive i mprovements in patients with Huntington's disease. |
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