Abstract

BACKGROUND
Drug-induced parkinsonism is a common medication side effect.
OBJECTIVE
The present report describes the case of a depressed elderly woman who developed parkinsonism after receiving risperidone and who had improvement of her depression and parkinsonism after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
CASE SUMMARY
A 67-year-old white female was admitted to a psychiatry ward for a major depressive episode with psychotic features. The patient developed pronounced parkinsonian features after taking risperidone, which did not improve with discontinuation of the drug, or with benztropine and carbidopa/levodopa. A total score of 6 was achieved using Naranjo's adverse drug reaction causality algorithm, suggesting risperidone was a probable cause of this adverse event. The patient's depression and parkinsonian symptoms did not improve until after initiation of ECT. After 19 treatments, the patient had resolution of her depression and only mild bradykinesia remained.
CONCLUSIONS
This was a case of probable drug-induced parkinsonism in an elderly woman who had improvement of her depression and parkinsonism after receiving ECT.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Baez MA, Avery J

Institution

Department of Psychiatry, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10128, USA. mabsnog@yahoo.com

Source

The American journal of geriatric pharmacotherapy 9:3 2011 Jun pg 190-3

MeSH

Aged
Antiparkinson Agents
Antipsychotic Agents
Depressive Disorder, Major
Electroconvulsive Therapy
Female
Humans
Parkinson Disease, Secondary
Risperidone
Treatment Outcome

Pub Type(s)

Case Reports
Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

21565562