Objective: The report provides detailed material on the history of the description of Huntington’s disease (HD) in Russia. The first, unknown to a wide audience, works by domestic authors on this subject are indicated. The use of a variety of terminology in the description of HD in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is discussed. The question of the practical importance of the use of uniform Russian-language terminology in modern publications on HD is considered.

Background: A classic description of Huntington’s disease (HD) is the essay “On Chorea”, published by the young American doctor George Huntington on April 13, 1872, in the Philadelphia weekly magazine “Medical and Surgical Reporter”. Despite a number earlier mention of chorea in the chapter “On the signs delivered by the patient’s external appearance”: “In chorea, or dancing of St. Witt, a patient on his feet, but makes incessant grimaces or of motion of the hand across the board, or toes. Of incomparable unusual self-confidence confidence coupled with continual movements energetically means acute insanity (mania)”.

Methods: Our research methods included the study of the Russian medical periodicals, monographs and manuals and from 19th and beginning of 20th centuries in the Russian State Archives in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Also we investigated an electronic catalog of the Russian Library of Medicine in Moscow.

Results: When did the Russian medical community begin discussing chorea, including her hereditary options, on printed pages? Prince Parfeny Nikolaevich Engalichev (1769-1829) at the time of writing this book was a retired military. Beginning in 1799, he published several books devoted to the problems of health and upbringing. In the fourth edition of the book “On the continuation of the human life … “, which is a compilation of information” from the best domestic and foreign writers “among various diseases of the nervous system,in which the influence of bodily exercise can be useful” the author mentions “prone, or dance of St. Witt “; he also calls this disease a “dance fit”: “In ancient times, a disease was known as the Germans called St. Veits-Tanz: the possessed by her received strong convulsions and from that as though incessantly danced “. At the same time, no assumptions are made as to the nature of this disorder.

Conclusions: It is worth mentioning one more, seemingly insignificant, but which has quite practical consequences. In the literature published during the last 30 years, terminological variants of “Huntington’s chorea” and “Huntington’s disease” continue to occur periodically. From a linguistic point of view, both options are permissible, but the lack of uniformity of terms introduces certain difficulties in the process of searching for scientific information in modern databases, and also often misleads non-specialists trying to find information on this problem.

References: 1. Huntington G. On Chorea. Medical and Surgical Reporter 1872; 26 (15): 317–321. 2. Wexler A., Wild E.J., Tabrizi S.J. George Huntington: a legacy of inquiry, empathy and hope. Brain. 2016; 139 (8): 2326–2333. DOI:10.1093/brain/aww165. 3. Engalychev P.N. [On continuation of human life or the book of home cures containing articles on how to live to healthy, merry, and deep senility, to protect health using proper methods and treat diseases of any kind, with showing causes and remedies surrounding us almost everywhere, compiled from the best domes- tic and foreign writers by Prince Parfeniy Engalychev. Part 5]. St.Petersburg. V tipografii Aleksandra Smirdina, 1826. 422 p. (in Russ.) 4. Kazanov I.F. [Practical diagnostics, or clinical guideline for examining typical signs to correctly recognize diseases, with detailed description of auscultation and percussion, compiled by Ivan and Grigoriy Kazanov using es says by Andral, Bulo, Bushu and other modern authors]. Moscow. Tipografiya Lazarevskogo in-84Vol. 11 № 3 2017.

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