Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Abbiategrasso Brain Bank Protocol for Collecting, Processing and Characterizing Aging Brains
Published on: June 3, 2020
Paranoid delusions and cognitive impairment suggesting Fahr's disease
Shamim V Shakibai1, Joel P Johnson, James A Bourgeois
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Davis Medical Center, University of California, 2230 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
Abstract:
The authors present the case of a 60-year-old woman with elaborate paranoid delusions and cognitive impairment found during a workup for atypical chest pain. Clinical evaluation revealed mild dementia, and radiography showed basal ganglia calcification consistent with Fahr's disease. She was treated with risperidone and transferred to a psychiatric inpatient unit for definitive care. Psychiatrists should consider Fahr's disease as a differential diagnosis in the evaluation of psychosis and cognitive impairment when neuroimaging reveals calcification of the basal ganglia.
Related Concept Videos
Dementia l: Introduction
Alzheimer Disease l: Introduction
Hepatic Encephalopathy
Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory
Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Hallucinations and Delusions
Thought Disorders
Disorganized and unusual thought processes mark thought disorders in schizophrenia. One key feature is disorganized speech, where an individual's conversation includes loosely...
Negative and Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Negative Symptoms
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia manifest as deficits in normal emotional and behavioral functioning, profoundly impacting daily life. Individuals with schizophrenia often display a flat affect, characterized by a near-total absence of emotional expression,...
