Fahr's disease and schizophrenia

Fahr's disease is an hereditary disease associating bilateral and symmetric al basal ganglia calcifications (BGC) and neurologic and psychiatric disord er. We studied the relationships between abnormalities on computed tomograp hy and psychiatric symptoms in eight first-degree relatives (the mother and seven siblings). Five had abnormalities evoking a Fahr's disease (bilatera l and symmetrical calcifications of caudate nuclei lenticular nuclei,and fo r two of them, of dentate nuclei). Three out of these five relative were sc hizophrenic (SADS, Endicott and Spitzer, 1978). In contrast, none of the th ree relatives without abnormalities were schizophrenic. Our results are com patible with a pathophysiological link between BGC and schizophrenia. This case report illustrates the interest of studying the relationships between psychiatric disorders and basal ganglia's pathologies, which could constitu te and original contribution in the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in schizophrenia.