New to the KD forum. Hate for my first post to be about a not so popular topic.

Has there been any clinic trials done on the effectiveness of castration to see if it halts progression of KD humans?

Haven't been able to find any research on the subject since the posting of this article at MSU 2 years ago.

http://news.msu.edu/story/934/

Fisher

Fisher, another study done in 2003 posted in nature medicine (link available on KDA website) also indicated that use of the prostrate cancer drug Leuprorelin acetate, which results in chemical castration could be an effective treatment for SBMA.

My neurologist and I have spoken of this option but both agree that right now it is too radical for me to try.

I am not sure that at this point in time, I would volunteer for such a study. I am holding out for less extreme but equally promising treatments.

Japanese researchers just concluded a study on Leuprorelin (chemical castration). There were a couple of somewhat positive results from the study, but nothing that could cause them to move forward and declare it a success. Dr. Fiscbeck wrote about this trial (comments below):

"In early 2009, Dr. Gen Sobue's group from Nagoya, Japan, published the results of a clinical trial in KD patients with the anti-androgen drug leuprorelin. In the 48 week placebo-controlled portion of this trial there were signs that the treatment had an effect on the distribution of the mutant protein and slightly improved swallow time, although it was not clear whether the latter effect was noticeable by the patients. In a 96 week non-randomized follow-up period those patients who chose to continue taking the drug did better than those who did not, but it is possible that this was due to selection bias rather than to drug effect. A larger, multi-center trial of leuprorelin is currently underway in Japan."