Coexistence of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s Disease: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Verde, Federico^{a; b; *; 1} | Aiello, Edoardo Nicolò^{a; *; 1} | Adobbati, Laura^a | Poletti, Barbara^{a; c} | Solca, Federica^a | Tiloca, Cinzia^a | Sangalli, Davide^d | Maranzano, Alessio^a | Muscio, Cristina^e | Ratti, Antonia^{a; f} | Zago, Stefano^g | Ticozzi, Nicola^{a; b} | Frisoni, Giovanni Battista^h | Silani, Vincenzo^{a; b}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy | [b] Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, “Dino Ferrari” Center, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy | [c] Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy | [d] Department of Neurology and Stroke Unit, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Lecco, Lecco, Italy | [e] Neurology-5 (Neuropathology) Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan, Italy | [f] Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy | [g] Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy | [h] Memory Clinic and LANVIE - Laboratory of Neuroimaging of Aging, University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Federico Verde, Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Piazzale Brescia 20, 20149 Milan, Italy. Tel.: +0039 02619112937; E-mail: f.verde@auxologico.it; ORCID: 0000-0002-3977-6995.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: We describe a case of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and review the literature about the coexistence of the two entities, highlighting the following: mean age at onset is 63.8 years, with slight female predominance; ALS tends to manifest after cognitive impairment and often begins in the bulbar region; average disease duration is 3 years; cognitive phenotype is mostly amnestic; the pattern of brain involvement is, in most cases, consistent with AD. Our case and the reviewed ones suggest that patients with ALS and dementia lacking unequivocal features of FTD should undergo additional examinations in order to recognize AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, neurodegeneration, neuropsychology

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-230562

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 1383-1399, 2023