Shakibai SV, Johnson JP, Bourgeois JA. Paranoid delusions and cognitive impairment suggesting Fahr's disease.
PSYCHOSOMATICS 2006;
46:569-72. [PMID:
16288137 DOI:
10.1176/appi.psy.46.6.569]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
The authors present the case of a 60-year-old woman with elaborate paranoid delusions and cognitive impairment found during a workup for atypical chest pain. Clinical evaluation revealed mild dementia, and radiography showed basal ganglia calcification consistent with Fahr's disease. She was treated with risperidone and transferred to a psychiatric inpatient unit for definitive care. Psychiatrists should consider Fahr's disease as a differential diagnosis in the evaluation of psychosis and cognitive impairment when neuroimaging reveals calcification of the basal ganglia.
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