Title:Catatonia Due to a General Medical Condition (Organic Catatonia)
Volume: 9
Issue: 2
Author(s): Brendan T. Carroll, Brian Mendenhall, Francisco Appiani, David Spiegel and William McDaniel
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Catatonia, Hydrocephalus, Akinetic mutism, Systemic lupus erythematosis, NMDA encephalitis.
Abstract: While much has been written about catatonia, there are only a few scholarly reviews focused on catatonia due
to a general medical condition, also referred to as organic catatonia. There has been a long list of causative conditions that
account for the development of organic catatonia which are informative but not clinically helpful. We performed a
literature search using the term ‘catatonia’ covering the last ten years. We found 31 titles of catatonia due to drugs and 76
titles of catatonia due to a general medical condition. Of these, 9 were catatonia due to NMDA antibody associated
encephalitis. In order to update this body of knowledge, we have revisited the differential diagnosis of catatonia and
attempted to delineate catatonia due to a general medical condition from phenomenologically similar but etiologically
disparate conditions.
We also focused on catatonia due to systemic lupus erythematosis. We also present a case of catatonia due to
hydrocephalus to illustrate treatment issues. In spite of the pharmacologic treatment for catatonia, this patient has not
improved.
We hope that this review and discussion will aid in the identification and treatment of catatonia due to a general medical
condition. Medical causes must be addressed to ensure the best outcome.
