Progressive supranuclear palsy-pure akinesia with gait freezing syndrome

What it is

An atypical variant of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare late-onset neurodegenerative disease, characterized by progressive freezing of gait, speech and writing early in the disease course. Later, axial rigidity, and facial immobility can occur, and supranuclear downgaze paresis may emerge after a decade. Neuropathological characteristics include tau pathology and neuronal loss in specific brain areas, especially in the globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, and substantia nigra. The tau pathology is less widespread compared to the other PSP sub-types.

Key facts

Prevalence

1-9 / 100 000 (Europe)

Age of onset

Adult

Inheritance

Not applicable

Classified as

Clinical subtype

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

Gene

ICD-10 codes

ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.

Related health topics

Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.

Cross-references