Аннотация:In a prospective study of 24 patients with presenile dementia associated with cerebral atrophy, clinical and psychological characteristics of patients9 disorder were examined in relation to pathological and chemical findings obtained from tissue analysis following cerebral biopsy. The histological features of Alzheimer9s disease were found in 75% of cases, but not in 25%. Distinctive patterns of neuropsychological breakdown emerged allowing clinical grouping of patients. While clinical patterns were helpful in differentiating Alzheimer9s disease from non-Alzheimer9s disease, there was not an absolute concordance between clinical and patho-chemical groupings. The findings, which support the notion that the "cerebral atrophies" represent a heterogeneous group of conditions, have relevance for the clinical diagnosis of presenile dementia.
