DEMENTIA IN AGEING MENTAL DEFECTIVES: A CLINIGAL AND NEUROPATHOLOGICAL STUDY

Abstract

A clinical and neuropathological study of 11 mentally subnormal subjects diagnosed as suffering from either senile, cerebral arteriosclerotic or pre-senile dementia is reported. Neuropathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of cerebral arteriosclerotic dementia in 3, senile dementia in 1 and senile dementia of unusually early onset in another mongol old patient. In 1 patient neuropathological examination revealed a diffuse sclerosis of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher type. In 4 survivors, the clinical diagnosis of dementia is probably correct in 1 patient, partially correct in another and wrong in 2 patients. Dementia can be diagnosed in mental defectives with a resonable degree of accuracy and the value of neuropathological examinations in deceased, psychiatrically disordered mentally subnormal subjects is discussed.