[Posterior cortical atrophy: anatomo-clinical variant of Alzheimer's disease].

The authors report the case of a 66-year-old woman who developed progressive occipital dysfunction and lately a dementing illness. Brain CT revealed posterior cerebral atrophy. Post-mortem examination showed the characteristic features of Alzheimer's disease, mainly in the posterior areas, relatively sparing the amygdala and Ammon's horn.

[Crossed aphasia in a right-handed patient].

A case of crossed aphasia in a right-handed patient provided evidence that cerebral dominance for speech may be located in the right hemisphere. Intravenous injection of amytal in the left carotid artery did not worsen the language disturbances. Comparison of this case with those reported shows that there is not a constant model with only one physiopathological mechanism for all cases of crossed aphasia in right-handed patients.

[Paroxysmal hemicrania preceding Pancoast's syndrome].

A case of Pancoast's syndrome whose first symptom was facial pain is reported. Pain was identical to chronic paroxysmal hemicrania described by Sjaastad and Dale in 1974. It seems to result from a lesion of the sympathetic nerves in the neck.

[Alexia without agraphia. Anatomical basis and physiopathological mechanisms].

Clinical, neuropsychological and radiological signs were studied in a patient suffering from pure alexia associated with right superior quadrantanopia. The lesion responsible for the defects was located in the periventricular white substance at the level of the left inferior occipitotemporal convolutions. These structures seem to constitute the pathway of the visual information channelled from the two hemispheres towards the language centres.