PubMed HealthSearch

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Multiple System Atrophy”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

[An autopsy case of multiple system atrophy with many senile plaques].

A 60 year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of gait disturbance and dizziness. At 57 years of age, he noticed his walking unstable. After then, he had dizziness due to orthostatic hypotension, urinary difficulty, loss of livid, and forgetfulness. Neurological examination revealed he had severe orthostatic hypotension, cerebellar ataxia, dysarthria, hyperreflexia of four limbs, myoclonus of right leg, and atonic bladder. His brain CT showed cerebellar atrophy. Thereafter he had recurrent syncopic attacks. His gait disturbance progressed steadily, so he became bedridden. In his terminal stage, his limbs showed rigidity. About 3 years later he died of pneumonia and sepsis. At autopsy brain weighted 1,230 g. Glossly the putamens was bilaterally shrunken, the color of the substantia nigra and locus ceruleus became pale. Base of the pons and the cerebellum were atrophic. Microscopical examination confirmed the degeneration of striato-nigral and olivo-ponto-cerebellar systems without Lewy body. In the spinal cord there was depletion of neuronal cells in the intermediolateral nuclei and Onufrowitz nuclei. In addition to the conventional neuropathological staining methods, we performed the immunohistochemical studies using monoclonal antibody against synthetic peptide of beta protein which detected senile plaque of every stages with formic acid pretreatment, and compared to the modified Bielschowsky method and Congo red method. Our case showed many very primitive and primitive senile plaque in neocortices and hippocampal region. A few neurofibrally tangle were seen in hippocampus. We supposed our case might combine multiple system atrophy and Alzheimer' pathology.

Alzheimer Disease

Multiple system atrophy with retinal degeneration in a young child.

A 4-year-old girl with multiple system degeneration and retinal degeneration was presented. There was onset of an ataxic gait at two years and rapid progression of retinal degeneration, myoclonus and cranial nerve palsy. Neuropathological examination revealed severe degeneration of the cerebellar cortex and the pathways of auditory and deep sensation, as well as degeneration of the cerebellar efferent fibers, the striatonigral system, the cerebellar afferent fiber system and lower motor neurons. Cases of young children with spinocerebellar degeneration have been reported in several families of olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA), but degenerative changes in our case were more widespread than those in OPCA cases. The multiple system lesions in the central nervous system and retina of this child are different from those of any other previously reported cases.

Brain Stem

Brainstem auditory evoked responses and CT findings in multiple system atrophy.

Brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAERs) and CT findings were comparatively studied in 11 patients with Shy-Drager syndrome and 10 patients with olivopontocerebellar atrophy. The I-III interpeak latencies (IPLs) were prolonged in 6 patients with Shy-Drager syndrome and in 6 patients with olivopontocerebellar atrophy. Mean values of the I-III IPLs were 2.54 +/- 0.28 ms (Shy-Drager syndrome) and 2.62 +/- 0.15 ms (olivopontocerebellar atrophy). In each disease, the I-III IPLs correlated well with the degree of the pontine atrophy estimated from the CT scan. The patients with Shy-Drager syndrome could be clinically divided into two varieties. In addition to autonomic dysfunction, one variety (4 patients) was linked with parkinsonism, and the other (7 patients) with signs of multiple nervous systems involvement. Prolongation of I-III IPLs and pontine atrophy were noted in 6 out of the latters patients, whereas the former patients did not show such abnormalities. The combination of BAERs and CT scan provides useful clinical information on multiple system atrophy.

Adult

Argentophilic intracytoplasmic inclusions in multiple system atrophy.

Argentophilic intracytoplasmic glial inclusions were recently reported in olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy (OPCA). We examined the brains of 3 cases of OPCA [2 with striato-nigral degeneration (SND) and 1 without SND], 1 case of pure autonomic failure (PAF) without pathology of OPCA or SND, as well as 36 controls including 2 cases of Holmes' type cerebellar cortical atrophy and 2 cases of Joseph's disease. Although the inclusions were tubulin-positive, the immunoreactivity was different from that of the dendrites. Electron microscopically, the microtubular structures composing the inclusion were fuzzy with granular material. These findings may indicate that the microtubules composing the inclusions are modified. Inclusion-bearing cells appeared to be oligodendrocytes while many of them had larger and lighter nuclei than those of normal-looking oligodendrocytes without the inclusions. The inclusions were widely distributed in a characteristic fashion beyond the typical lesions of OPCA, SND and PAF. The distribution pattern was essentially the same in the case of PAF and 3 cases of OPCA irrespective of the presence or absence of OPCA or SND lesions. In contrast, argentophilic inclusions were not observed in other types of spinocerebellar degeneration, in Holmes' type cerebellar cortical atrophy or in Joseph's disease. It is suggested, in line with other studies, that the inclusion may be specific to OPCA and related disorders which include PAF and a useful marker to distinguish OPCA from other neurodegenerative diseases.

Adult

Multiple system atrophy with neuronal intranuclear hyaline inclusions. Report of a case and review of the literature.

A 31/2-year-old girl presented with frequent falls. She had an unsteady gait, delayed behavioural development absent tendon reflexes and in the legs decreased strength tone and equivocal plantar responses. She then developed ataxia, nystagmus, choreoathetosis, cranial nerve palsies, diminished strength and tone in the arms, sensory deficit in the limbs and autonomic nervous system dysfunction. She became progressively less responsive and succumbed at the age of 63/4 years. Examination of the central, peripheral and autonomic nervous system showed ubiquitous neuronal intranuclear hyaline inclusions and neuronal loss in several sites.

Amino Acids

Multiple system atrophy (Shy-Drager syndrome): MR imaging.

The Shy-Drager syndrome (SDS) is a form of progressive autonomic nervous system failure (PAF) with orthostatic hypotension and associated extrapyramidal involvement that is often mistaken for Parkinson disease. SDS includes olivopontocerebellar atrophy and striatonigral degeneration which is attended by PAF. Eight patients with SDS were studied on a 0.5-T superconducting system utilizing T1-weighted inversion recovery (IR) and T2-weighted spin-echo pulse sequences and also on a 1.5-T system using spin-echo sequences. With IR sequences, atrophy of the putamina was demonstrated in patients with SDS that is consistent with findings of neuronal loss in these nuclei reported on postmortem examinations. An abnormal decrease in signal intensity of the putamina, particularly along their lateral and posterior portions, was also detected, predominantly on T2-weighted sequences, and in three cases on T1-weighted spin-echo sequences. Abnormalities were detected on both imagers but were shown with greater clarity on the 1.5-T device. SDS is the first disease in which convincing basal ganglia changes have been shown in vivo exclusively by MR imaging.

Adult

[Multiple system atrophy with macro square wave jerks and pendular nystagmus].

A 51-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of gait disturbance and dysuria. Neurological examination revealed limb and truncal ataxia, orthostatic hypotension, cogwheel rigidity in all limbs, generalized hyperreflexia without pathological reflex, and horizontal gaze nystagmus. She became progressively worse and bedridden at age 52. Then she developed abnormal eye movements. Electrooculogram revealed vertical, horizontal or oblique macro square wave jerks and pendular nystagmus. Macro square wave jerks appeared during fixation and disappeared with eye closure or in the dark room. Macro square wave jerks were characterized by a duration of about 200 msec and an amplitude of 10 to 15 degrees. Pendular nystagmus with a duration of several seconds and amplitude of 5 to 15 degrees appeared when she changed her fixation or the point of fixation disappeared. Macro square wave jerks and pendular nystagmus were mildly suppressed after the intramuscular injection of 100 mg of phenobarbital, the oral intake of sodium valproate of 600 mg/day or baclofen of 60 mg/day. They were almost completely depressed after the intravenous injection of 3 mg of diazepam or the oral intake of clonazepam of 1.5 mg/day. We suggested that both macro square wave jerks and pendular nystagmus in this patient might be caused by the dysfunction of GABAergic system in the saccadic eye movement system.

Atrophy

Xamoterol in the treatment of orthostatic hypotension associated with multiple system atrophy (Shy-Drager syndrome).

The effect of xamoterol on the orthostatic hypotension associated with Shy-Drager syndrome was investigated in three patients. Intra-arterial blood pressure was measured during a control period and during treatment with xamoterol, both in a cardiovascular investigation laboratory and for 24 h of unrestricted activity using portable apparatus. Xamoterol lessened the total number of symptomatic episodes of orthostatic hypotension by 67 per cent. Average untreated 24-h intra-arterial blood pressure was 132/78 mmHg; during treatment with xamoterol it rose to 138/90 mmHg. However episodes of severe hypertension (defined as a systolic intra-arterial blood pressure above 200 mmHg) were more frequent with xamoterol. Although xamoterol attenuated orthostatic hypotension, careful monitoring of ambulatory blood pressure may be necessary, particularly at the start of treatment, because of the development of severe supine hypertension. Intravenous test doses of xamoterol did not predict either the attenuation of orthostatic hypotension or the development of supine hypertension in all patients.

Adrenergic beta-Agonists

[An autopsy case of multiple system atrophy with many Lewy bodies--striatonigral degeneration, olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy and autonomic nerve nucleus involvement in the spinal cord].

A 72 years old man developed slowness of the motion and orthostatic hypotension at the age of 69. Neurological examination showed slight finger tremor, rigidity of extremities, bradykinesia, and marked orthostatic hypotension. The illness progressed steadily and the patient died of pneumonia. At autopsy brain weighed 1220 g. Grossly the putamen was bilaterally shrunken, the color of the substantia nigra and locus ceruleus became pale. Base of the pons and the cerebellum were atrophic. Microscopically the most remarkable change was seen in the striato-nigral system. In the putamen, there were severe loss of small neurons and intense gliosis and brownish pigments were observed in the neuropil and within some of the astrocytes. There found neuronal loss and gliosis in the substantia nigra. A few Lewy bodies were seen in the substantia nigra. In the cerebellum there were slight loss of Purkinje cell and many torpedos were seen. There were demyelination and fibrirally gliosis in the cerebellar white matter except the hilus of dentate nucleus. The transverse pontocerebellar fibers were degenerated and fibrirally gliosis was seen there. The inferior olivary nuclei showed neuronal loss and astrocytosis. But the degeneration of the olivo-ponto-cerebellar system in this case was not so severe as the typical case of OPCA. In the spinal cord there was depletion of nerve cells in the intermediolateral nuclei and Onufrowitz nuclei. Slight neuronal loss and many spheroids were observed in the anterior horns and there was demyelination in the corticospinal tracts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged