Motor neuron disease with dementia and ophthalmoplegia : a clinical and pathological study

Ophthalmoplegia and dementia are not usually observed in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We report the case of a 60-year-old female with ophthalmoplegia and frontal-type dementia which appeared at an early stage of her illness that presented with dysarthria and weakness in the upper extremities. Notable autopsy findings in the central nervous system were, in addition to the degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons, moderate neuronal loss and spongy degeneration in layer II of the frontal cortex with prominent astrocytosis, and moderate neuronal loss with astrocytosis in both the substantia nigra and the red nucleus. Central chromatolysis of a few neurons in the oculomotor nucleus was seen. This case is considered to be a new subtype of motor neuron disease.