JUVENILE PARKINSONISM - REPORT OF 18 CASES

The accepted Juvenile Parkinson denomination includes patients who present the characteristic symptoms before 40 years old. We are reporting 18 such patients, between 15 and 34 years old, who had a follow-up between 9 to 17 years. Based on our observations and a revision of the literature, and after considering inheritance, clinical, evolutive and therapeutic outlook we were able to reach a conclusion as to the essential features of this particular form of parkinsonism. Apparently the impairment to L-Dopa therapy developed more slowly in these patients than in presenile forms and it would be related more with the duration of the illness than with that of L-Dopa therapy.