Abstract
We describe a case of a thirty-seven-year-old woman patient with a progressive ataxia and dementia. She has been hospitalized at the Dpt. of Psychiatry, University Hospital in Hradec Králové from March to April 2000.
Neurological symptoms as gait and speech impairment appeared in 1994 for the first time. After six years, behavioral disturbances related to dementia also became evident.
The results of other brain examinations (CT, MRI, EEG, neuropsychology) were concordant with the SPECT. We successfully treated the patient with a combination of psychotropics (piracetam, tiapride, alpha-tokoferol), rehabilitation, and supportive psychotherapy so that she could have been discharged from the hospital.
After half a year, the clinical state significantly worsened. No effective long-term treatment for the SCA patients has been developed as yet.
Because of a genetic background of SCA, a gene therapy of this serious neuropsychiatric disease could be considered in the future.