Membranous lipodystrophy (Nasu-Hakola disease) with thalamic degeneration: report of an autopsied case.

An autopsied case of membranous lipodystrophy (Nasu-Hakola disease, NHD) with thalamic degeneration was reported. A 34-year-old Japanese man was diagnosed as having NHD by bone biopsy prior to the onset of clinical symptoms. His maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother are cousins, but this family history is negative for NHD. He developed frontal lobe syndrome at the age of 35 with progressive dementia, and died of acute renal failure at the age of 46. Gross inspection of the brain detected atrophy and softening of the cerebral white matter, predominantly in the frontal lobe. Microscopically, numerous spheroids, predominant fibrillary gliosis with less prominent demyelination "dissociation glio-myélinique" and scanty sudanophilic lipid droplets were observed, indicating the sclerosing type of NHD. An unusual patholgoical finding in this case was selective involvement of the thalamic nuclei with preservation of the other gray matter except for focal cortical necrosis. The topography of the affected thalamic nuclei is similar to that of systemic thalamus degeneration. An association with thalamic degeneration in NHD has not been previously reported. The present case suggests that NHD also affects the thalamus.