Background The Repair-HD project is a EUFP 7 funded project, aiming to provide a protocol for stem cell therapy in Huntington’s disease. As part of the clinical assessment protocol to track slow longitudinal progression in small HD patient cohorts, the “Q-Cog” assessment battery is conducted.

The Q-Motor system applies sensitive force transducers and 3 d position tracking systems, to quantitatively measure motor function. Q-Cog assessments deploy the technology used in the Q-Motor system to benefit from the high accuracy of the sensors in tasks with high cognitive load.

Aims Primary objective is to establish an assessment battery with highly sensitive and robust endpoints, to track cognitive decline in small patient cohorts. Secondary objective is the development of a generic software for administration of Q-Cog and Q-Motor tasks in multicentric clinical trials.

Methods Subjects – We intend to include 30 HD subjects (CAG ≥ 36, age ≥ 18 yrs, TFC staging I or II) and 30 control subjects.

Force Matching – The patient is asked to match a visually presented force by applying pressure on the force transducer. In a blinded variation, the patient is asked to reproduce presented force by memory (without visual feedback).

Trail Making – Classic Trail Making test on paper but with Polhemus Stylus (6-axis position sensor). The patient is asked to connect-the-dots of 25 trail nodes on a paper labelled 1 to 25 (test A) or alternating a digit and a letter.

Spiral Drawing – The patient is asked to retrace a spiral on a piece of paper with Polhemus Stylus (6-axis position sensor).

Morse Code Mimicry – The patient is asked to tap a presented morse(-like) acoustical code on a force transducer.

Results The study piloting the Q-Cog assessment battery in Repair-HD has been launched. We report sample recordings and feasibility for the assessment battery in test subjects.

Conclusions The Q-Cog battery is applicable in HD patients and the novel software (currently in beta status) is applicable in multi-site settings.