Familial idiopathic basal ganglia calcification: rediscovering an old challenge in organic psychiatric disorders João Ricardo Mendes de Oliveira, Matheus Fernandes de Oliveira Keizo Asami Laboratory (LIKA), Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil. Neuropsychiatric Department, UFPE, Recife, PE, Brazil. Neurosurgery Residency Program, Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual de...

Fahr's disease (FD) is characterized by sporadic or familiar idiopathic calcification of the basal ganglia, dentate nuclei of the cerebellum, and centrum semiovale, mainly presenting with movement disorder, dementia, and behavioral abnormalities. We described a rare case of Fahr's disease presenting at onset only with behavioral and neuropsychological alterations, whose diagnosis was supposed o...

The basal ganglia from 33 patients (all over one year of age) with Down's syndrome were examined pathologically. Forty-five per cent had calcification. Basal ganglia calcification was localised to a constant area of globus pallidus and became more prominent with increased age. Calcification and amyloid degeneration of the adjacent blood vessels were present. The proximity of abnormal blood vess...

Basal ganglia calcification was found as an incidental finding in 42 out of 7000 patients who underwent computed tomography. The calcification showed on plain skull radiography when the maximum density on computed tomography exceeded 100 Hounsfield units. The 26 patients with basal ganglia calcification detected on computed tomography who were available for follow-up, were investigated with mat...