title: Presenile dementia diagnosed as posterior cortical atrophy.
abstract: Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) was originally proposed in 1988 based on five cases of dementia presenting characteristic clinical symptoms. The concept of PCA is still not generally accepted. Herein, we present a case of a presenile female with PCA. A 57-year-old woman was brought to the hospital by her older sister. The patient's chief complaints were that she could not drive a car safely and had caused numerous traffic accidents. Construction apraxia and unilateral spatial agnosia were detected by neuropsychological tests. The patient could not write a coherent the letter even though she was well educated. In addition, she demonstrated slight memory disturbance and she needed her sister's support in daily life. Magnetic resonance imaging and single photon emission computed tomography examinations confirmed bilateral posterior atrophy and significant hypoperfusion in the occipital regions. The neuropathological background of PCA remains unclear. Therefore, the concept of PCA should be validated by the accumulation of information from more cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. ayamitsun@yahoo.co.jp
authors.forename: Ayami
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsunoda
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iritani
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ozaki
mesh_terms: D000381:Agraphia / Q000175:diagnosis; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001284:Atrophy; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018450:Disease Progression; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D004411:Dyslexia, Acquired / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008032:Limbic System / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon