Obsessive compulsive disorder in huntington disease: a case of isolated obsessions successfully treated with sertraline.

Objective: To report about a patient with Huntington disease (HD) in combination with obsessions who was successfully treated with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.

Background: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has rarely been reported in association with HD, and little is known about the treatment of patients with OCD symptoms and HD.

Methods: We describe a 42-year-old woman who experienced isolated obsessive thoughts about killing her neighbor 10 years after the onset of her genetically confirmed HD.

Results: Sertraline was prescribed at a daily dose of 150 mg with a complete remission of obsessive ideas within 4 weeks of treatment.

Conclusions: The basal ganglia are known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of OCD and HD. Thus, it is conceivable that a degeneration of the caudate nucleus as in HD may also account for obsessive and compulsive symptoms in this disorder. To our knowledge, this is the first report about a patient with HD in combination with obsessions alone who was successfully treated with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. However, the association of OCD with HD warrants further systematic evaluation.