Fahr's disease

A 75-year-old woman woke up with vertigo and vomiting. She had a longstanding history of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia with recent CABG. Nystagmus was noted on admission but neither neurological deficit nor abnormal laboratory tests were found (including serum electrolytes, alkaline phosphatase, intact PTH and 25-hydroxyvitamin D). Head CT demonstrated symmetric bilateral calcifications in the basal ganglia and cerebellum (Figure 1), judged “incidental” to her presenting complaint. She soon recovered and was discharged with a diagnosis of benign paroxysmal positional …