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Fahr's disease associates various degrees of neuropsychological impairment and calcium deposits in the basal ganglia. We report 3 cases. The first case was a 54-year-old man with hemichorea of one-year duration. Laboratory results demonstrated idiopathic hypoparathyroidism. In the second case, a 23-year-old man treated for epilepsia for 8 years was hospitalized for subintrant episodes and hemichorea. Dysmorphism and laboratory results led to the diagnosis of pseudo-hypothyroidism. The third case was a 62-year-old woman with generalized seizures of epilepsia and dementia of two-month duration. Physical examination revealed extra-pyramidal rigidity. Hyperparathyroidism due to an adenoma was confirmed histologically. In all three patients, correction of phosphocalcium levels led to clinical improvement, particularly with disappearance of the epileptic seizures and abnormal movements. Clinical expression of Fahr's syndrome varies greatly. Symptoms include psychiatric disorders, epileptic seizures, extra-pyramidal syndrome and various neurological conditions. Diagnosis requires CT brain scan which identifies calcium deposits in the basal ganglia. The main cause is hypoparathyroidism, whether primary or post-operative. Cases due to other causes of dysparathyroidism are rare. The pathophysiology of this condition remains unknown and results of treatment are often unsatisfactory. Since correcting the impaired calcium phosphorus metabolism often leads to considerable improvement, it is essential to systematically search for dysparathyroidism in patients presenting with neuropsychologic manifestations associated with calcifications of the basal ganglia.

In 9 controls and in 10 athetosic subjects, authors performed a pneumotachographic registering of ventilation under rest conditions for each phase and determined : the phase duration, the delay between the onset of the phase and the moment where the maximal output occurs, the output reached at the first 1/10th of second after phase change. These determinations were performed in 189 cycles in the controls and in 257 cycles in the athetosic subjects. For each cycle, ventilation and frequency reported to one minute were reckoned, and the relation was established between the duration of expiration and inspiration and between the time necessary for the output to reach its maximal level and the phase duration. The hereafter mentioned facts were noted : in the athetosic subjects there exists a tachypnea for normal ventilation figures, a proportional lengthening in the expiration duration with a reduced mean output; in the beginning of the phase, the output gets increased more rapidly and reaches a higher level than in the controls; then a slow and irregular decrease occurs. Inspiration is rapid and regular. The most perturbed expiration is to be found in the athetosic subjects who exhibit the most severe vocal disorders. These expiratory anomalies appear to be bound with a poor thoracic and laryngeal motor controlling during the passive phase of the respiration, whereas the automatic inspiratory movement takes place in a normal mood.

The authors present the case of a patient with a striated syndrome resembling Wilson's disease but without the disorder of cooper metabolism. The clinical picture was completely masked by a hypokalemia at 1 mEq/l following urinary loss of this cation, due to ascending interstitial nephritis. Correction of the potassium deficiency produced rapid reappearance of the initial neurological syndrome.