[Familial striatal degeneration (author's transl)].

An extrapyramidal disorder occurring in three generations of a family (only males) is described The clinical features were progressive dementia and extrapyramidal signs without choreiform hyperkinesia. The youngest patient (onset of disease at the age of 22 years) showed tremor, rigidity, ataxia, convulsions, and myoclonus. The neuropathologic findings were characterized by isolated symmetrical degeneration of the corpus striatum and diffuse cortical atrophy without affecting other cerebrospinal neuronal systems. The clinical features of this familial disorder and its relation to other types of familial striatal degeneration and to the juvenile form of Huntington's chorea are discussed.