Obsessive-compulsive disorder associated with parietal white matter multiple sclerosis plaques

World J Biol Psychiatry. 2009;10(4 Pt 3):956-60. doi: 10.1080/15622970701762528.

Abstract

We report the case of a patient who developed obsessive-compulsive symptoms after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In this patient, obsessive-compulsive symptoms deteriorated with the emergence of a right parietal white matter multiple sclerosis plaque. The involvement of parietal white matter abnormalities in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder remains largely unexplored. Our case report raises the possibility that parietal lobe white matter microstructure plays a role in mediating obsessions and compulsions through disruptions of the functional connectivity between cortical-cortical and/or cortical-subcortical brain regions implicated in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Multiple Sclerosis / complications*
  • Multiple Sclerosis / pathology*
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / complications*
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / diagnosis*
  • Parietal Lobe / pathology*