High-Level Alzheimer Disease Neuropathological Change Following Iatrogenic Exposure

What are the clinical and postmortem findings in iatrogenic Alzheimer disease (iAD) consequent to treatment with cadaveric pituitary–derived human growth hormone (c-hGH)?This case series describes a c-hGH recipient with early-onset dementia and prominent language involvement, in whom postmortem examination showed unequivocal neuropathological features of AD, including severe tauopathy. Three additional c-hGH recipients have similar cognitive syndromes characterized by prominent language involvement.These results demonstrate that patients with iAD can have histopathological findings classically found in sporadic AD and that prominent language involvement might be an important phenotypic feature in this AD subtype.

Corresponding Author: John Collinge, MD, MRC Prion Unit at UCL and UCL Institute of Prion Diseases, Courtauld Building, 33 Cleveland St, London W1W 7FF, United Kingdom (j.collinge@ucl.ac.uk).

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