[Association of autoimmune dementia, Basedow's disease, and Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome]

The authors observed one case of myoclonic dementia reversible with steroid therapy, associated with Grave's disease and Sjögren's syndrome. A circulating IgG fraction was demonstrated reacting specifically with cerebral micro-vessels and which evolved in parallel with the neuro-psychiatric disturbances. These results support the hypothesis of an autoimmune vasculitis causing the dementia. The persistence of abnormalities one year after clinical cure showing an alteration of the blood-brain barrier associated with the appearance of circulating antibodies against the hypophyseal cells, and in view of the predictive value of these antibodies, suggests a possibility of the eventual apparition of an Alzheimer type dementia.