Symmetrical degeneration of the neostriatum in Chinese infants.

In 1934 I described (Verhaart, 1934) three rare cases of cerebral degeneration in Chinese infants, two of them showing extensive symmetrical degeneration in the caudate nucleus and the putamen with formation of large neuroglial nuclei, resembling Alzheimer's cells, while the other case showed the same affection in several parts of the cerebral cortex. For this reason the three cases were compared with the hepato-cerebral degeneration of Kinnier-Wilson and Strumpell-Westphall. It is not certain that these three cases belong to the same type of affection, as there are important differences between them and similar cases in families belonging to the Wilson-pseudosclerosis group, which have not yet been described in Europe. But now I have examined three other cases resembling greatly the second one formerly recorded, and the resemblance is so important that I feel justified in bringing them into one group and in supposing that they have the same etiology.