Obsessive-compulsive disorder due to neuroacanthocytosis treated with citalopram. A case report

Neuroacanthocytois is a rare hereditary disease, which causes a degeneration of the striatum. Patients develop a choreatic movement disorder and also complex psychiatric symptoms, such as psychosis or Tourette's syndrome. We report a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder due to neuroacanthocytosis. The striatum plays an important role in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder. In Huntington's disease we also find obsessive-compulsive disorders, due to impairment of the fronto-striatal loop. Encouraged by similar pathophysiology and promising reports of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in this disease, we started a treatment with citalopram to which the patient responded very well.