Resolved Psychosis after Liver Transplantation in a Patient with Wilson's Disease

Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2011:7:182-4. doi: 10.2174/1745017901107010182. Epub 2011 Dec 30.

Abstract

A psychiatric involvement is frequently present in Wilson's disease. Psychiatric symptoms are sometimes the first and only manifestation of Wilson's disease. More often a psychiatric involvement is present beside a neurologic or hepatic disease.We describe the case of a 18 years-old male patient who shows a clinic and laboratoristic pattern of cirrhosis and an history of subchronic hallucinatory psychosis, behavioral symptoms and mood disturbances with depressed mood. He hadn't familiar history of liver or psychiatric disease. Laboratory and imaging tests confirmed the diagnosis of Wilson's disease with psichiatric involvement. After liver transplantation copper metabolism and liver function normalised and we noticed no recurrency of the psichiatric illness. Very few cases of psychiatric improvement after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has been described until now.

Keywords: Copper metabolism; OLT; Wilson’s disease.; genetic liver disease; psychiatric illness; psychosis.