THE NATURE OF APRAXIA IN CORTICOBASAL DEGENERATION - A CASE OF MELOKINETIC APRAXIA

We report a case of corticobasal degeneration (CBD), with melokinetic apraxia and alien-hand phenomenon. A detailed neuropsychological asses sment found visuospatial and short-term memory impairments. The patien t's course was marked by progressive worsening of motor symptoms, lead ing to death within 6 years, but dementia was not observed. Brain magn etic resonance imaging (MRI) showed bilateral parietal atrophy, and si ngle-photon emission tomography (SPECT) revealed bilateral frontotempo ral and right parietal hypoperfusion. This case emphasizes the fact th at melokinetic apraxia may be the initial symptom of CBD. The analysis of clinical, neuropsychological, MRI, and SPECT data favors the role of parietal regions in the clinical manifestations, particularly in th e motor disorder.