Progressive supranuclear palsy
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![This patient presented with progressive dementia, ataxia and incontinence. A clinical diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus was entertained. Imaging did not support this, however, and on formal testing abnormal nystagmus and eye movements were detected. A sagittal view of the CT/MRI scan shows atrophy of the midbrain, with preservation of the volume of the pons. This appearance has been called the](/Images/godic/202502/14/Steele-olszewski-richardson_disease3723.jpg")
Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP; or the Steele-Richardson-Olszewski syndrome, after the physicians who described it in 1963) is a degenerative disease involving the gradual deterioration and death of specific volumes of the brain.
Males and females are affected approximately equally and there is no racial, geographical or occupational predilection. Approximately 6 people per 100,000 population have PSP.