Psychiatric Onset Alexander Disease: An Important Challenge in Neuropsychiatric Diagnosis: A Case Report

Basic and Clinical Neuroscience

article

Hedieh Arshiany¹  Behzad Ezzatian²  Valentin Artounian¹  Fatemeh Alizadeh³  Fatemeh Mohammadian³ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry, Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences;School of Allied Medical Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences;Department of Genomic Psychiatry and Behavioral Genomics, Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences

关键词: Alexander disease;    Late-inset;    GFAP mutation;    Psychiatric symptoms;    Leukodystrophy;   

DOI  :  10.32598/bcn.2021.1551.1

来源: Iran University of Medical Sciences

【 摘 要 】

Introduction: Alexander disease is a heterogeneous group of diseases with various manifestations based on the age of disease onset. This rare leukodystrophy syndrome with mutations in the GFAP gene could present with developmental delay and seizure in the infantile form to ataxia and bulbar palsy in adulthood. However, psychiatric symptoms are not well-defined and are usually evaluated after disease diagnosis, not before disease investigations. Case Report : Our patient is a 52-year-old Iranian woman with a history of depression since 17 years ago, a suicidal attempt two years ago, and ingestion of a large amount of opium with the intention of suicide 2 months ago. She was presented with disorientation and probably a delirious state in the last interview. Eventually, in comprehensive investigations, white matter hyperintensity in MRI and leukodystrophy was diagnosed to determine the cause of these changes, we did a gene study, found whole exon deletion of the GFAP gene, and made a diagnosis of late-onset Alexander disease. Conclusion: Neurological-onset manifestation of Alexander disease, specifically late-onset form, is the most common clinical picture of disease and was seen in about 90% of patients, but psychiatric symptoms are not well-known, and psychiatric-onset disease was not described yet. Various gene mutations were described in late-onset Alexander disease; however, the large whole exon deletion which was revealed in our patient is a novel mutation and significantly needs to be explored. Here authors describe a late-onset Alexander disease with psychiatric-onset symptoms and novel large exon deletion in the GFAP gene.

【 授权许可】

Unknown