Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-sdd8f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-14T04:16:33.823Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Violence, malignant catatonia or anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis: a case report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2011

Khaled Zehry ,
Andrew Matrunola  and
Clive E. Hyde
Khaled Zehry
Affiliation:
ST6, general adult psychiatry, Trafford General Hospital, Manchester, UK
Andrew Matrunola*
Affiliation:
ST4, general adult psychiatry, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK
Clive E. Hyde
Affiliation:
Consultant Psychiatrist, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK
*
Correspondence to: Dr Andrew Matrunola, Laureate House, Wythenshawe Hospital, Southmoor Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester, M23 9LT. E-mail: Andrew_matrunola@hotmail.com
Get access

Abstract

We present the case of a 25-year-old woman who initially presented after committing an assault resulting in serious injury. She exhibited recent onset psychiatric symptoms which were later followed by a rapid deterioration in her physical health. She was treated with electroconvulsive therapy on a medical intensive care unit for a presumptive diagnosis of malignant catatonia. A test for anti-NMDA receptor antibodies returned positive. She was treated with IV immunoglobulin (IVIg) and high dose steroids, then underwent a left ovarian cystectomy. She was subsequently treated on a psychiatric intensive care unit until discharge.

Keywords

ViolenceNMDAencephalitisECT

Information

Type
Case Report
Information
Journal of Psychiatric Intensive Care , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , April 2012 , pp. 55 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © NAPICU 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Dalmau, J., Tüzün, E., Wu, H. et al. (2007) Paraneoplastic Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis associated with ovarian teratoma. Annals of Neurology. 61: 25–36.Google Scholar
Dalmau, J., Gleichman, A.J., Hughes, E.G. et al. (2008) Anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis: case series and analysis of the effects of antibodies. Lancet Neurology. 7: 1091–1098.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, G., Irani, S.R., Coltart, C. et al. (2010) Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antibodies: a potentially treatable cause of encephalitis in the intensive care unit. Critical Care Medicine. 38: 679–682.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, A., Glick, D.B. and Dinwiddie, S.H. (2006) Electroconvulsive therapy in a pediatric patient with malignant catatonia and paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis. Journal of ECT. 22: 267–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, M.A. and Fink, M. (2003) Catatonia in psychiatric classification: a home of its own. American Journal of Psychiatry. 160: 1233–1241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waxman, E.A. and Lynch, D.R. (2005) N-methyl-D- aspartate receptor subtypes: multiple roles in excitotoxicity and neurological disease. Neuroscientist. 11(1): 37–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed