[Steroid treatment of acute psychosis associated with multiple sclerosis]]

Psychiatric disorders are common in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). Psychosis is a rare complication in this condition. We present two patients with MS and psychosis.

Case 1. A 45-year-old man was admitted to the hospital because an acute psychosis. The diagnosis of clinical definitive MS was made two years before. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and single positron emission computerized tomography (SPECT) showed lesions in the left temporal lobe. He was treated with a 3-day course of high-dose corticosteroid and neuroleptic. The patient's status gradually improved within the following weeks. Case 2. A 41-year-old man with MS was hospitalized in a Psychiatric Department for acute psychosis. He was treated with high-dose of neuroleptic. Thereafter two remissions and relapses of MS have occurred. In 1998, the patient was evaluated in the Service of Psychiatric for new paranoid acute psychosis.

Psychosis is not a prominent feature of the disease, occurring in 5% of cases. The relationship between lesions of the central nervous system and psychiatric illness has not been established although some reports have implicated the temporal lobe. The propensity of steroids to exacerbate psychosis usually argues against this option, but steroids could theoretically improve psychosis related to acute demyelination.