EPA-0070 – Ganglioglioma and Psychosis - an Unusual Association

Abstract

Gangliogliomas are rare tumors, comprising less than 1% of all brain tumors, predominating in the early decades of life, with strong association with long term intractable epilepsy. In 90% of the cases they are located in the temporal lobe and overall a good prognosis is expected. With this poster the authors report a case of a 38-year-old male patient, clinically stabilized with psychotropic drugs, who was diagnosed for six years with undifferentiated schizophrenia. Recently, he started with seizures which lead to the diagnose of ganglioglioma. Due to the need of surgical resection the psychotropic drugs were suspended. Consequently, the psychotic symptoms reappeared with more intensity and resistance to the treatment.

A retrospective and detailed analysis of the psychiatric and neurologic diagnosis conducts to a thorough discussion over the possible associations between these two entities without excluding an eventual causality. The authors aim to review and discuss the relevance of this topic, highlightening the racional use of imaging studies in order to exclude organic diseases in patients with first episode psychosis.