Primary lateral sclerosis: a case report with spect study

ABSTRACT

Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is a neurodegenerative disease with progressive corticospinal involvement and characterized by lower limbs spasticity followed by upper limbs involvement, rare cranial nerve involvement, typical sparing of all sensory modalities, sphincteric function and eventually mild cognitive changes. The authors report a case of PLS in a 43-year-old woman with 3 years of clinical follow-up and extensive laboratory investigation, including a SPECT study which disclosed bilateral frontal motor area hypometabolism. Several aspects about this unique disease were reviewed, including differential diagnosis with other more common neurological disorders.