Yonsei Med J.  2018 Dec;59(10):1197-1204. 10.3349/ymj.2018.59.10.1197.

The Brain Donation Program in South Korea

• Kim Y
• Suh YL
• Kim SJ
• Bae MH
• Kim JB
• Kim Y
• Choi KC
• Huh GY
• Kim EJ
• Lee JS
• Kang HW
• Shim SM
• Lim HJ
• Koh YH
• Kim BC
• Lee KH
• Lee MC
• Lee HW
• Lim TS
• Seeley WW
• Kim HJ
• Na DL
• Lee KH
• Seo SW

• KMID: 2426334
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2018.59.10.1197

Abstract

PURPOSE
Obtaining brain tissue is critical to definite diagnosis and to furthering understanding of neurodegenerative diseases. The present authors have maintained the National Neuropathology Reference and Diagnostic Laboratories for Dementia in South Korea since 2016. We have built a nationwide brain bank network and are collecting brain tissues from patients with neurodegenerative diseases. We are aiming to facilitate analyses of clinic-pathological and image-pathological correlations of neurodegenerative disease and to broaden understanding thereof.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We recruited participants through two routes: from memory clinics and the community. As a baseline evaluation, clinical interviews, a neurological examination, laboratory tests, neuropsychological tests, and MRI were undertaken. Some patients also underwent amyloid PET.
RESULTS
We recruited 105 participants, 70 from clinics and 35 from the community. Among them, 11 died and were autopsied. The clinical diagnoses of the autopsied patients included four with Alzheimer's disease (AD), two with subcortical vascular dementia, two with non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia, one with leukoencephalopathy, one with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and one with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Five patients underwent amyloid PET: two with AD, one with mixed dementia, one with FTD, and one with CJD.
CONCLUSION
The clinical and neuropathological information to be obtained from this cohort in the future will provide a deeper understanding of the neuropathological mechanisms of cognitive impairment in Asia, especially Korea.

Keyword

Neuropathology; brain autopsy; Alzheimer's disease; frontotemporal dementia; amyloid

MeSH Terms

Alzheimer Disease
Amyloid
Aphasia, Primary Progressive
Asia
Brain*
Cognition Disorders
Cohort Studies
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome
Dementia
Dementia, Vascular
Diagnosis
Frontotemporal Dementia
Humans
Korea*
Leukoencephalopathies
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Memory
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Neurologic Examination
Neuropathology
Neuropsychological Tests
Amyloid

Figure

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  Fig. 1 (A) Flow chart of the overall recruitment process for brain donation. (B) Flow chart of the recruitment process for brain donation from the community.

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  Fig. 2 Clinical diagnosis of participants recruited from clinics. AD, Alzheimer's disease; FTD, frontotemporal dementia; MCI, mild cognitive impairment; NC, normal cognition; PD, Parkinson's disease; VCI, vascular cognitive impairment; Others, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (n=1), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (n=1), leukoencephalopathy (n=2), and epilepsy (n=2).

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