Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology

Psychosis as the first manifestation of Wilson’s disease

Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2014; 24: Supplement S235-S235
Read: 1157 Published: 17 February 2021

Wilson’s disease (WD) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder in which copper accumulates in tissues; that manifests as neurological or psychiatric symptoms and liver disease. Symptoms usually appear between the ages of 6 and 20 years, but cases in much older people have been described. Wilson’s disease occurs in 1 to 4 per 100,000 people. The first manifestations are hepatic (40% of the cases), neurological (35%) or psychiatric (10%). The frequent psychiatric manifestations reported are personality and mood changes, depression, phobias, cognitive impairment, psychosis, anxiety, compulsive and impulsive behavior. This present case reports a patient who was admitted to our inpatient clinic with psychosis as the first manifestation of Wilson’s disease. A 25-year-old male, without previous psychiatric history, presented with one-month- history of psychiatric symptoms. In the patient’s mental state examination paranoid, persecutory delusion, auditory, visual hallucinations were detected. He was diagnosed with first episode of acute psychosis. The patient had no past personal or family history of either medical or psychiatric disorder. Psychical and neurological examination was normal. To eliminate possible organic causes of this psychiatric statement, laboratory testing and Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain were performed. Laboratory tests were normal. MRI revealed hyper intensity in basal ganglia in the T2 setting. MRI also demonstrated Wilson’s disease’s characteristic “face of the giant panda” pattern. An ophthalmologic examination revealed the presence of Kayser-Fleisher rings. Based on the patient’s MRI results, neurological consultation and the presence of Kayser-Fleisher rings, the patient was diagnosed as Wilson ‘s disease. In this case report we would like to emphasize that, even the patients who present with pure psychiatric symptoms underlying any medical disease should be considered and the necessary testing should be performed including MRI of the brain.

EISSN 2475-0581