J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1989; 1:159-166
Copyright © 1989 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Dementia in Parkinson's disease: the problem of clinicopathological correlation
L Sudarsky, J Morris, J Romero and TM Walshe
Neurology Service, VA Medical Center, Brockton, Massachusetts.
Four cases of Parkinson's disease with advanced dementia are described.
Postmortem examination revealed cell loss in the substantia nigra, with
Lewy bodies present, and loss of cells in the basal nucleus of Meynert. A
few tangles were observed in the hippocampus, but no senile plaques or
neurofibrillary tangles were found in the neocortex. The authors note that
a dramatic dementia syndrome may occur with Parkinson's disease alone,
without the associated cytoskeletal markers of Alzheimer's disease. Cases
were characterized by disorientation, episodic confusion and hallucinations
persisting off medication, disturbed behavior, and the absence of aphasia.
