PubMed2005
We report a 65-year-old man with rigid-bradykinetic parkinsonism, vertical gaze palsy, difficulty in eye-lid opening, and marked pseudo-bulbar palsy. He felt difficulty of it, hand movement at 59 years old. When he was 60 years old, monotonous speech and slowness of movement appeared. He visited a neurologist who noted vertical gaze palsy, neck rigidity, and bradykinesia. He was diagnosed as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and given 300 mg L-Dopa/Benserazide by the neurologist. This medication improved his rigidity and bradykinesia. At 62 years of the age, his eye-lids closed involuntary and it was difficult to open. In addition, he began to complain of wearing-off, autonomic symptoms, and dysphagia. Anti-parkinsonian drugs were increased, but his bradykinesia progressed. At 64 years of the age, he was admitted to the Neurology Service of Juntendo Hospital. On admission, he was alert and not demented. No aphasia, apraxia, or agnosia was noted. In the cranial nerves, upward and downward gaze were markedly restricted. His face was hypomimic and seborrhoic. It was difficult to swallow liquid or solid for him. No weakness was noted, but he walked in small steps with freezing and falling tendency to backward. Rigidity was noted on his extremities and stronger on his left side than right. Tremor was absent. Bradykinesia of his body and extremities was marked. No cerebellar ataxia was noted. Deep tendon reflexes were within normal range. Planter response was flexor bilaterally. Myerson's sign was noted. Sensory and autonomic function were normal. He was treated with L-Dopa, Pergolide, and Bromocriptine. However, these medications improved his bradykinesia and gait disturbance only slightly, dysphagia became progressively worse. He developed aspiration pneumonia when he was 65 years old and admitted to Juntendo Hospital. A large amount of sputum was aspirated from his trachea. Two days after from admission, he was found dead on his bed. He was discussed in a neurological CPC and the chief discussant arrived at a conclusion that the patient had progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Other differential diagnoses included Parkinson's disease, pallido-nigroluysian atrophy (PNLA), multiple system atrophy (MSA), and corticobasal degeneration(CBD). Many participants considered that PSP or PNLA was most likely. Post-mortem exmination revealed marked nigral neuronal loss and gliosis. The globus pallidus and the luysian body changed mildly. However, the frontal cortex was relatively spared, there were many ballooned neurons in the cortical layer. Other parts were spared. With sliver (Bodian and Gallyas-Braak) and anti-phsphorylated tau stain, abundant astrocytic plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and argyrophilic threads on the frontal cortex, striatum, and substantia nigra were seen. There was no tufted astrocyte which was hallmark of diagnosis of PSP. In addition, several Lewy bodies were seen in the brainstem. Because astrocyte plaque was considered specific for pathology of CBD, the pathologist revealed that the pathological diagnosis of this patient was CBD. Nevertheless, discussion was focused on the relatively mild degeneration of the frontal cortex for CBD.