Late-onset OCD as presenting manifestation of semantic dementia

• Published in: General hospital psychiatry Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 102.e1 - 102.e4
• Main Authors: Pompanin, Sara, M.D, Perini, Giulia, M.D, Toffanin, Tommaso, M.D, Gnoato, Francesca, Ph.D, Cecchin, Diego, M.D, Manara, Renzo, M.D, Cagnin, Annachiara, M.D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 2012
• Subjects: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose–PET; Age of Onset; Frontotemporal dementia; Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration - diagnostic imaging; Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration - physiopathology; Humans; Italy; Male; Middle Aged; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - diagnosis; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - physiopathology; Psychiatry; Radiography; Semantic dementia; Semantic dementia; 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose–PET; Frontotemporal dementia; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• ISSN: 0163-8343; 1873-7714
• DOI: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2011.08.001

Abstract Semantic dementia (SD) is a neurodegenerative disease belonging to the spectrum of frontotemporal dementia that presents with loss of memory for words and prevalent left temporal pole atrophy. Behavioral disorders, particularly obsessive-compulsive symptoms, are frequent during the course of the disease. We describe a patient presenting with late-onset typical obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) that lasted for 10 years as an isolated condition before developing clinical and neuroimaging features of SD. This case alerts clinicians that late-onset OCD may be a psychiatric presentation of a neurodegenerative disorder such as frontotemporal dementia and requires an accurate diagnostic work-up.