Fahr’s Disease (FD) is a rare neurodegenerative
disorder of uncertain etiology characterized by abnormal intracranial calcium deposition in the basal
ganglia. It initially presents in the 4th to 6th decade
of life with diverse neuropsychiatric manifestations.
The correlation between vascular calcifi cation and
coronary artery disease had been studied extensively, but its correlation with cerebrovascular disease
remains elusive. Vascular calcifi cation is thus an important risk factor for coronary artery disease. It was
also postulated that a similar risk for cerebrovascular
disease may be attributable to intracranial vascular
calcifi cation. We present the case of a 46-year-old
male with progressive affective and cognitive disturbances, parkinsonism and ataxia. Eight years after
initial presentation, he developed an acute ischemic infarct in the background of diffuse intracranial
calcifi cation characteristic of FD, confi rmed by neuroimaging (Figure 1). While a number of cases FD
with associated stroke or stroke-like symptoms have
been reported, we are unaware of such occurrence
in a Filipino. A pathologic model linking intracranial
vascular calcifi cation in FD with cerebrovascular disease and ischemic stroke has been proposed, and
warrants further investigation.
Stroke
;
Cerebrovascular Disorders