Presentation
Tremors, imbalance and dementia.
Patient Data
There is symmetric bilateral calcifications of caudate, lentiform nucleui (corpus striatum) as well as dentate nuclei in cerebellum compatible with Fahr's disease (familial cerebral ferrocalcinosis). There is no involvement of both thalami and subcortical white matter.
Case Discussion
The differential of basal ganglia calcification is relatively long and includes a number of broad categories such as metabolic, ischemic/toxic and infective etiologies. Fahr's disease is usually initially asymptomatic in most patients. However, various neurological symptoms may develop later in life, such as psychosis, dementia & movement disorders (parkinsonism).