Is cerebral atrophy fatal?
On One Hand: Cerebral Atrophy is Sometimes FatalCerebral atrophy, a condition in which there is a loss of brain cells, may be fatal depending on the root cause. Conditions causing cerebral atrophy which are always or commonly fatal include Alzheimer’s disease, Pick’s disease (another form of dementia), frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s disease, Krabbe disease and AIDS, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).On the Other: Cerebral Atrophy May Just Be SevereCerebral atrophy is also caused by many conditions which are not always fatal (but which may still be severe). According to the NINDS, these include stroke, brain injury, cerebral palsy, Kearns-Sayre syndrome, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and neurosyphilis (syphilis of the brain which may be fatal if it is advanced before treatment).Bottom LineWhether or not cerebral atrophy is fatal always depends on the underlying cause.
