title: Obsessive-compulsive disorders in Pick's disease.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester 01655.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tonkonogy
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Barreira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed