PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - D J Costello
AU  - S L Walsh
AU  - H J Harrington
AU  - C H Walsh
TI  - Concurrent hereditary haemochromatosis and idiopathic Parkinson’s disease: a case report series
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.2003.027441
DP  - 2004 Apr 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 631--633
VI  - 75
IP  - 4
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/75/4/631.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/75/4/631.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry2004 Apr 01; 75
AB  - Hereditary haemochromatosis (HH) is a genetic disorder in which abnormal iron handling leads to excessive iron accumulation in systemic tissues. Magnetic resonance imaging studies suggest excess iron deposition in the basal ganglia of patients with HH. The symptoms of neurological complications of HH include cognitive decline, gait difficulties, cerebellar ataxia, and extrapyramidal dysfunction, but idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, in which brain iron deposition is normal, has not been reported. We describe four patients with concurrent HH and IPD. Although three of the cases had risk factors for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease, computed tomography did not show ischaemic changes in the basal ganglia. We speculate that in these cases, abnormal deposition of iron in the basal ganglia induced the symptoms of IPD.