ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Obtaining brain tissue is critical to definite diagnosis and to furthering understanding of neurodegenerative diseases. The present authors have maintained the National Neuropathology Reference and Diagnostic Laboratories for Dementia in South Korea since 2016. We have built a nationwide brain bank network and are collecting brain tissues from patients with neurodegenerative diseases. We are aiming to facilitate analyses of clinic-pathological and image-pathological correlations of neurodegenerative disease and to broaden understanding thereof. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We recruited participants through two routes: from memory clinics and the community. As a baseline evaluation, clinical interviews, a neurological examination, laboratory tests, neuropsychological tests, and MRI were undertaken. Some patients also underwent amyloid PET. RESULTS: We recruited 105 participants, 70 from clinics and 35 from the community. Among them, 11 died and were autopsied. The clinical diagnoses of the autopsied patients included four with Alzheimer's disease (AD), two with subcortical vascular dementia, two with non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia, one with leukoencephalopathy, one with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and one with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Five patients underwent amyloid PET: two with AD, one with mixed dementia, one with FTD, and one with CJD. CONCLUSION: The clinical and neuropathological information to be obtained from this cohort in the future will provide a deeper understanding of the neuropathological mechanisms of cognitive impairment in Asia, especially Korea.
Subject(s)
Humans , Alzheimer Disease , Amyloid , Aphasia, Primary Progressive , Asia , Brain , Cognition Disorders , Cohort Studies , Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome , Dementia , Dementia, Vascular , Diagnosis , Frontotemporal Dementia , Korea , Leukoencephalopathies , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Memory , Neurodegenerative Diseases , Neurologic Examination , Neuropathology , Neuropsychological TestsABSTRACT
A 63-year-old man presented with a 1.5-year history of progressive personality changes. Clinical evaluations revealed severe frontal dysfunction and bilateral frontal atrophy/glucose hypometabolism. He was diagnosed as probable behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. He continued to decline, and died at the age of 66. At autopsy, numerous tau-positive gilial threads and coiled bodies were observed in the white matter. Tau-positive astrocytic plaques and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions were also seen in cerebral cortices, which were compatible with corticobasal degeneration.
Subject(s)
Humans , Middle Aged , Autopsy , Cerebral Cortex , Coiled Bodies , Frontotemporal Dementia , Inclusion Bodies , Neurons , PathologyABSTRACT
A 63-year-old man presented with a 1.5-year history of progressive personality changes. Clinical evaluations revealed severe frontal dysfunction and bilateral frontal atrophy/glucose hypometabolism. He was diagnosed as probable behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. He continued to decline, and died at the age of 66. At autopsy, numerous tau-positive gilial threads and coiled bodies were observed in the white matter. Tau-positive astrocytic plaques and neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions were also seen in cerebral cortices, which were compatible with corticobasal degeneration.
Subject(s)
Humans , Middle Aged , Autopsy , Cerebral Cortex , Coiled Bodies , Frontotemporal Dementia , Inclusion Bodies , Neurons , PathologyABSTRACT
Approximately 15% of patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) have co-occurring motor neuron disease (MND). FTD-MND cases have frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD)-transactive response DNA-binding protein (TDP) pathology, which is divided into four subtypes (types A, B, C, and D) based on the morphological appearance, cellular location, and distribution of the abnormal TDP inclusions and dystrophic neurites. We report a patient with FTD-MND whose pathological diagnosis was FTLD-TDP type B. This is the first documented autopsy-confirmed case of FTD-MND in Korea.
Subject(s)
Humans , Autopsy , Diagnosis , Frontotemporal Dementia , Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration , Korea , Motor Neuron Disease , Motor Neurons , Neurites , PathologyABSTRACT
Approximately 15% of patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) have co-occurring motor neuron disease (MND). FTD-MND cases have frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD)-transactive response DNA-binding protein (TDP) pathology, which is divided into four subtypes (types A, B, C, and D) based on the morphological appearance, cellular location, and distribution of the abnormal TDP inclusions and dystrophic neurites. We report a patient with FTD-MND whose pathological diagnosis was FTLD-TDP type B. This is the first documented autopsy-confirmed case of FTD-MND in Korea.