A 6O year old male complains of tremors in his hands for the past 6 months. He does not smoke cigarettes but drinks 6 beers daily. Physical examination reveals normal vital signs, diminished facial expression, a stooped posture, shuffling gait with sho rapid steps and a pill rolling tremor in both hands. Morphological changes in his brain will Include
The patient mentioned above has Parkinson's disease. The pathological hallmarks are depletion of the pigmented dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the presence of alpha synuclein and other protein inclusions in the nigral cells. Reference : Harrison20th edition pg 2456
Pallor and atrophy of the substantia nigra
Marked atrophy of the caudate and putamen
Frontotemporal atrophy of the cerebral coex with enlarged ventricles
Butterfly shaped hemorrhagic mass extending acroos the corpus callosum
C.N.S