AN AUTOPSY CASE OF ALZHEIMER-DISEASE WITH MYOCLONUS AND PERIODIC SPIKES ON EEG

This is a case of Alzheimer disease with myoclonus and periodic spikes on EEG, A 56-year-old man developed progressive dementia and, 3 years later, generalized convulsions. Eight years later, he showed myoclonu s and periodic spikes on EEG. Cranial CT showed cortical atrophy and v entricular dilatation. He became apallic and died of pneumonia at the age of 65, 9 years after the onset of the disease. The brain weighed 1 ,050 g, Neuropathologically, diffuse neuronal loss, abundant neurofibr illary tangles and senile plaques, particularly diffuse plaques, were found extensively in the cerebral cortex. The white matter was preserv ed. In the Ammon's horn, abundant neurofibrillary tangles and senile p laques were observed. Grumose degeneration of the cerebellar dentate n ucleus, Kuru plaques or prions were not found. Numerous diffuse plaque s of the cerebral cortex have rarely been reported in autopsy cases of Alzheimer disease with myoclonus and periodic spikes on EEG.