[A 78-year-old man with progressive gait disturbance, dysphagia, and dementia]

We report a 78-year-old man with progressive gait disturbance, dementia, and dysphagia. He was apparently well until 75 years of age in 1989 when he had an insidious onset of gait disturbance. In October of 1991, he was treated with levodopa and amantadine HCl in another hospital, but he developed visual hallucination right after these medications, and the drugs were discontinued. He also developed difficulty in swallowing with frequent aspiration pneumonia. He was admitted to our hospital on January 13, 1992. On admission, the patient was chronically ill Japanese man; his blood pressure was 118/70 mmHg, body temperature 35.4 degrees C, and heart rate 72 and regular. No anemia or jaundice was noted; lungs were clear and no heart murmur was audible. The abdomen was flat but rigid to palpation without tenderness; no organomegaly was noted. On neurologic examination, he was alert but disoriented to all spheres; he was apparently demented and the score of the mini-mental test was 11. He did not appear to have aphasia or apraxia. Cranial nerves appeared intact, but he had a mask-like face and a slight limitation in the upward gaze; his voice was small. He was unable to stand or walk; he showed marked akinesia and moderate rigidity in his neck and the trunk. Deep reflexes were generally elicited normally or slightly weakly. Plantar response was extensor on the left and flexor on the right. No grasp reflex was present. Sensory examination showed questionable loss of touch in the glove- and -stocking distribution.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)