Cerebral Biopsy in the Investigation of Presenile Dementia

Abstract

This investigation is concerned with the histological changes found in cerebral biopsy specimens taken from 59 patients with presenile dementia. We have defined the presenile dementias as organic dementing diseases occurring before the age of 65; although 5 of the patients were a few years older than this at the time of biopsy, in all cases there was unequivocal evidence that the dementia was established before the 65th year. The clinical findings in 56 of these patients are described in the preceding paper (Sim, Turner and Smith, 1966).