An autopsy case of familial juvenile Alzheimer's disease with extensive involvement of the subcortical gray and white matters

Summary An autopsy case of familial juvenile Alzheimer's disease with extensive involvement of the subcortical gray and white matters is reported. A 33-year-old woman showed a progressive dementia and died of cardiac failure at the age of 45. Neurological examination disclosed choreatic movements, myoclonus, rigidity, and generalized convulsion. Gross inspection of the brain showed a diffuse cerebral atrophy and marked degenerations of both the subcortical gray and white matters. Microscopically, numerous and extensive argyrophilic changes such as senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and granulovacuolar degenerations were observed in the brain. The present case was characterized by a severe neuronal loss in the basal ganglia, substantia nigra, dentate nucleus, and thalamus as well as a marked myelin loss and axonal damage in the cerebral white matter. This case suggested a combination of multisystemic degeneration and primary degeneration of the cerebral white matter. The pathological similarity of this case to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Pick's disease is discussed.