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Slowly Progressive Ataxia, Neuropathy, and Oculomotor Dysfunction

Justin T. Jordan, MD; Gincy Samuel, MD; Steven Vernino, MD, PhD; Srikanth Muppidi, MD
Arch Neurol. 2012;69(10):1366-1371. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2012.2356.
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A 54-year-old white man presented with slowly progressive incoordination and weakness. He had normal motor development until, at 16 years of age, he noted difficulty walking and difficulty reading despite normal visual acuity. By the fourth decade of life, he developed poor coordination and balance, as well as inability to walk. In subsequent years, he developed progressive, painless sensory loss, weakness, and atrophy in his distal arms and legs. His vision problems progressed and he also developed dysarthria without dysphagia. Family history was negative except for an uncle who was described as “clumsy.” Results of an oculomotor examination were notable for increased square-wave jerks, persistent bilateral gaze-evoked nystagmus with saccadic pursuit, intact vestibulo-ocular reflex, and saccadic dysmetria. He had a mixed dysarthria with flaccid and ataxic characteristics and severe weakness and atrophy in the distal limb muscles. Sensation was diminished to the midforearms and midthighs in all modalities. Deep tendon reflexes were absent throughout, with no response to plantar stimulation. He had marked appendicular ataxia with mild axial ataxia. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed severe cerebellar atrophy. Results of an electrodiagnostic study suggested a severe axonal sensorimotor polyneuropathy with active and chronic denervation. The differential diagnosis in a patient with ataxia, neuropathy, and oculomotor features is discussed; a methodical approach to the diagnostic workup is suggested; and the final diagnosis is revealed.

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Figures

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Grahic Jump Location

Figure 1. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain demonstrating severe cerebellar hypoplasia or atrophy. A, T2-weighted axial images; B, T1-weighted sagittal images.

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Grahic Jump Location

Figure 2. Venn diagram demonstrating the systematic process by which the differential diagnosis was constructed. The 3 cardinal symptoms of cerebellar dysfunction, oculomotor dysfunction, and neuropathy were listed, and differential diagnoses for each symptom were narrowed by time course and heredity. Those diagnoses correlating with multiple symptoms were explored further. DRPLA indicates dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy; POLG, polymerase γ gene; and SANDO, sensory ataxic neuropathy, dysarthria, and ophthalmoparesis.

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Grahic Jump Location

Figure 3. Amino acid sequence of the senataxin (SE TX) gene (NCBI reference sequence NM_015046). The normal protein sequence is shown in black. This patient had 2 deletions that were predicted to produce frameshift and truncation and hence loss of protein function. A, The predicted amino acid sequence starting at amino acid 1085 is shown. The mutation in allele 1 was a single-base deletion at nucleotide position 3496. The mutation (red arrow) is predicted to produce sequence changes starting at amino acid 1105 followed by a premature stop codon. B, The predicted amino acid sequence of SE TX starting at amino acid 2288. The second mutation had a 2-base deletion at nucleotide position 7121-7122. This mutation was predicted to produce amino acid changes starting at amino acid 2317 (blue arrow) and a premature termination.

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