Parkinson's disease with involvement of the parasympathetic ganglia

We report the distribution of Lewy bodies in an 83-year-old man who was diagnosed histopathologically as having Parkinson's disease. Many sections were taken from the brain, spinal cord, spinal dorsal root ganglia and peripheral autonomic systems. In the central nervous system, Lewy bodies were present in many of the areas already reported by previous authors. In the peripheral nervous system, Lewy bodies were present in the sympathetic ganglia, enteric nervous system of the alimentary tract and the submandibular ganglion, which is a peripheral parasympathetic ganglion. The present case indicates that the peripheral parasympathetic ganglia are involved in the disease process of Parkinson's disease.