Dentato-rubro-pallido-luysian atrophy: a clinico-pathological study

Clinical and neuropathological descriptions are given of four cases of an uncommon disease, characterised by simultaneous degeneration of the dentato-rubral and pallido-luysian systems. These four are compared with sixteen previously described cases, and the group as a whole is compared and contrasted with other multisystem degenerations, such as olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy and Friedreich's ataxia. A pathological feature described here for the first time is degeneration of the fastigio-vestibular system. Clinically, there are three main types of the disease; (1) an ataxo-choreoathetoid type, (2) a pseudo-Huntington type, and (3) a myoclonic-epileptic type. There are familial cases of types 2 and 3. Oculomotor disturbances, associated with atrophy of the brainstem tegmentum, are observed in cases of types 1 and 3.