Obsessive compulsive disorder in huntington disease: a case of isolated obsessions successfully treated with sertraline.
OBJECTIVE
To report about a patient with Huntington disease (HD) in combination with obsessions who was successfully treated with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.


BACKGROUND
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has rarely been reported in association with HD, and little is known about the treatment of patients with OCD symptoms and HD.


METHODS
We describe a 42-year-old woman who experienced isolated obsessive thoughts about killing her neighbor 10 years after the onset of her genetically confirmed HD.


RESULTS
Sertraline was prescribed at a daily dose of 150 mg with a complete remission of obsessive ideas within 4 weeks of treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
The basal ganglia are known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of OCD and HD. Thus, it is conceivable that a degeneration of the caudate nucleus as in HD may also account for obsessive and compulsive symptoms in this disorder. To our knowledge, this is the first report about a patient with HD in combination with obsessions alone who was successfully treated with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. However, the association of OCD with HD warrants further systematic evaluation.
Patzold
Tanja
T
Department Neurology, Psychiatry, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany. Tanja.Patzold@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Brüne
Martin
M
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000150:complications*; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020280:Sertraline / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D020280:Sertraline