LISSAUER'S DEMENTIA PARALYTICA

Abstract

The usual case of dementia paralytica shows at autopsy diffuse atrophy of the cerebral cortex, which is most intense in the frontal lobes and progressively decreases in intensity toward the posterior poles of the hemispheres. Such a distribution of the atrophy is expected from the character of the clinical course, which offers no symptoms or signs of a focal nature. In contrast to these usual cases are the cases which during life show focal signs and at autopsy striking atrophy of certain convolutions. It is the purpose of this study to review the reports of such cases found in the literature and to report the clinical and pathologic observations in eight cases from the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt in Munich, in an effort to determine in what manner they differ from the usual cases of dementia paralytica. We wish also to report several observations that are characteristic of these cases and have