Brain atrophy and neuropsychological function testing in pure and complicated hereditary spastic paraparesis: a 3-D MRI-based correlation study

The hereditary spastic paraparesis (HSP) is a group of rare heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorders that share the principal clinical feature of progressive lower limb spastic paralysis. They are classified into pure (pHSP) and complicated (cHSP) forms depending on whether the paraparesis exists alone or in combination with other major clinical features. Cognitive impairment is a frequent feature in cHSP variants and includes the occurrence of mental impairment, dementia, isolated cognitive abnormalities or premature cognitive decline. The aim of the study was to find out if and to which extent a neuropsycholo…