Obsessive-compulsive disorders in Pick's disease

J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1994 Spring;6(2):176-80. doi: 10.1176/jnp.6.2.176.

Abstract

The authors present a follow-up of a previously described patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Her condition continued to worsen, and she died 5 years after disease onset. Neuropathological findings were consistent with the diagnosis of Pick's disease. They revealed, in addition to the "knife-edge" frontotemporal atrophy, striking atrophy with extensive neuronal loss and gliosis involving the caudate nuclei and, to a lesser degree, the putamens and globus pallidus. Neuroimaging data had showed isolated atrophy of the caudate nuclei in the early stages of Pick's disease in this patient when OCD was the leading clinical manifestation. Relevant literature is reviewed, and the role of caudate nuclei atrophy in the development of OCD is discussed.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Atrophy
  • Brain / pathology
  • Dementia / diagnosis*
  • Dementia / pathology
  • Dementia / psychology
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Neurocognitive Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Neurocognitive Disorders / pathology
  • Neurocognitive Disorders / psychology
  • Neurons / pathology
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / diagnosis*
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / pathology
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / psychology
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed