Burning chest pain as a prodromal sign in autopsy-proven Parkinson’s disease dementia

Abstract

Pain is common in Parkinson’s disease (PD) from its early phase. However, there are no reports of autopsy-proven PD dementia with unusual pain. We report the case of a woman with PD dementia who initially presented with unyielding central neuropathic chest pain and parkinsonism. Diagnostic workup showed no abnormal findings related to her pain. Although her parkinsonism was responsive to dopaminergic medication, her clinical status rapidly deteriorated to dementia with hallucinations and delusions over 2 years. An autopsy was performed following death after 6 years of disease. Pathologic examination revealed diffuse Lewy body pathologies (Braak stage VI), limbic-predominant Alzheimer’s disease pathology, and TAR DNA-binding protein 43 pathologies in the amygdala. The patient was an APOE4 carrier. Multiple pathologies concurrent with the APOE4 allele might be associated with rapid clinical deterioration. Although pathologic substrates for pain remain uncertain, the initial presentation of unusual pain merits further clinicopathological correlation studies.