Affiliations: Department of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, San
Raffaele Turro Hospital, Milan, Italy | Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Vita-Salute
San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy | Department of Nuclear Medicine, San Raffaele
Scientific Institute and Milano Bicocca University, Milan, Italy
Note: [] Corresponding author: Alberto Raggi, MD, Department of Neurology
and Neurorehabilitation, San Raffaele Turro Hospital, Via Stamira d'Ancona 20,
20127 Milan, Italy. Tel.: +39 02 26433305; Fax: +39 02 26433394; E-mail:
raggi.alberto@hsr.it
Abstract: The corticobasal degeneration syndrome has been suggested to be part
of a complex of conditions (including the different subtypes of frontotemporal
dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy), which reflect a spectrum of
pathological substrates. This concept is supported by the frequent clinical
overlap that can be observed among patients diagnosed with these conditions. We
report three clinical cases, characterized by the overlap of the clinical
features of corticobasal degeneration syndrome with, respectively, nonfluent
progressive aphasia, progressive supranuclear palsy and semantic dementia.
Current diagnostic criteria emphasize differences in clinical presentation,
which probably reflect the preferential location of pathology in the early
stages of disease. However, with disease progression, a considerable clinical
overlap can be expected among the different syndromes. This concept should be
extended not only to the cognitive and behavioural features of the
frontotemporal dementia subtypes, but also to the movement disorders of
corticobasal degeneration and supranuclear palsy.
