Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a rare brain disorder that causes problems with walking and balance as well as dementia. About 20,000 Americans — or one in every 100,000 people over age 60 — have PSP. Patients experience symptoms common to degenerative disease of the brain such as changes in behavior and difficulty with speech. Another characteristic symptom is lack of control of eye movement. These symptoms are caused by a gradual deterioration of brain cells at the base of the brain in an area called the brainstem.

Patients with PSP are usually middle-age or elderly, and men are affected more often than women. This disease is difficult to diagnose because it is so rare and is sometimes mistaken for Parkinson's disease.

As PSP gets progressively worse, patients are at greater risk for complications, such as choking, pneumonia, head injury and fractures caused by falls. The most common cause of death is pneumonia. However, with good medical attention and treatment, many PSP patients live well into their 70s and beyond.

See books recommended by the UCSF Memory and Aging Center.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated February 8, 2008