Modified electroconvulsive therapy for the treatment of refractory schizophrenia-like psychosis associated with Huntington's disease

摘要

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenera-tive disorder characterized by involuntary movements, dementia and psychiatric symptoms [1]. Psychiatric symptoms in HD resemble those of schizophrenia; therefore HD is sometimes clinically misdiagnosed as schizophrenia [1-3]. The efficacious effect of modified electroconvulsive therapy (mECT) has been reported in both psychiatric disorders and in movement disorders including dyskinesia and Parkinson's disease [4, 5]. However, there have been few reports of mECT for the treatment of schizophrenia-like psychosis in HD. Here, we describe a case of a patient with HD who had psychiatric symptoms refractory to neuroleptics, and whose symptoms were dramatically improved by mECT.