Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-06T19:03:32.265Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Neuropsychiatric Disturbance in Huntington’s Disease: Approach to Management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

J. Jay*
Affiliation:
BronxCare Health System, Psychiatry, Bronx, United States of America
V. Kumar
Affiliation:
BronxCare Health System, Psychiatry, Bronx, United States of America
P. Bidkhanian
Affiliation:
BronxCare Health System, Psychiatry, Bronx, United States of America
E. Garrels
Affiliation:
BronxCare Health System, Psychiatry, Bronx, United States of America
Y. Segal
Affiliation:
BronxCare Health System, Psychiatry, Bronx, United States of America
B. Susaimanickam
Affiliation:
BronxCare Health System, Psychiatry, Bronx, United States of America
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Introduction

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant, neurodegenerative condition with a prevalence of 10.6-13.7 per 100,000, caused by the trinucleotide CAG (cytosine, adenine, guanine) repeat expansion in the HTT gene. HD is characterized by a range of motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms, the latter of which usually manifest prior to the onset of motor or cognitive disturbances. Amongst psychiatric symptoms, changes in personality are most common, followed by depression. Psychosis has a higher prevalence in those with early-onset HD.

Objectives

This case report aims to demonstrate an apporach to the management of neuropsychiatric disturbances in HD as well as expose the need for development of an evidence-based apprach to treatment.

Methods

PubMed was searched for the criteria Huntington’s Disease AND Psychosis, with a secondary search for Management of Psychosis in Huntington’s Disease.

Results

The patient is a 54-year-old male with no psychiatric history and reported past medical history of Huntington’s Disease, diagnosed one month ago. He was brought to the Psychiatric ED due to agitation and disorganized behavior at home. On admission, he demonstrated disorganized behavior, grandiose delusions, neurocognitive deficits, and reported auditory hallucinations. With the initiation of tetrabenazine and risperidone his psychiatric symptoms improved and he was able to be discharged to a long-term care facility.

Conclusions

Literature is scarce regarding treatment of psychiatric manifestations of HD. We catered our approach towards safe and effective symptoms management in a multidisciplinary manner. Further research is required to reach an evidence-based consensus as well as develop specific guidelines for managing psychiatric conditions related to HD.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.