Traditional Chinese medicine on four patients with Huntington's disease.

Four Huntington's disease (HD) patients were treated with traditional Chinese medicines Yi-Gan San (YGS) and Chaihu-Jia-Longgu-Muli Tan (CLMT) in a cross-over manner. Two patients took YGS for 8 weeks first, and after 4 weeks of washing out, they took CLMT for 8 weeks. Two other patients took these medicines in reverse order. All patients showed a decrease in the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale-motor assessment (from 106.3 +/- 4.7 to 89.6 +/- 5.8 as mean +/- SD, P = 0.0004) by YGS treatment with no extrapiramidal symptoms or changes of cognition or ADL. Our study suggests a possibility of a new treatment for involuntary movements.