A Rare Case of Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser Syndrome Presenting with Acute Psychosis

The psychiatric co-morbidities in female population with mullerian agenesis is an area with limited research. This is probably due to the fact that when those patients are diagnosed not much attention or information is given for long term psychiatric follow-up. Owing to their inability to bear children, these subjects often become socially harassed. Thus these constant stressors may lead to development of psychopathology in future. Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome is a congenital abnormality with absence of uterus, cervix and vagina, but normal secondary sexual characteristics and external genitalia and occurs in every 1 out of 4000-10,000 females. There is also limited literature on the probable common chromosomal aetiology for both psychosis and MRKH patients. We, present here a case of MRKH syndrome, whose initial presentation was psychosis only. In this respect, we also highlight the much neglected need of appropriate psychiatric screening and provision of psychiatric care in this population.

BDNF val66met modulates the association between childhood trauma, cognitive and brain abnormalities in psychoses

OBJECTIVE

Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is important for brain development and plasticity, and here we tested if the functional BDNF val66met variant modulates the association between high levels of childhood abuse, cognitive function, and brain abnormalities in psychoses.

METHOD

249 patients with a broad DSM-IV schizophrenia spectrum disorder or bipolar disorder were consecutively recruited to the TOP research study (mean±age: 30.7±10.9; gender: 49% males). History of childhood trauma was obtained using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Cognitive function was assessed through a standardized neuropsychological test battery. BDNF val66met was genotyped using standardized procedures. A sub-sample of n=106 Caucasians with a broad DSM-IV schizophrenia spectrum disorder or bipolar disorder (mean±age: 32.67±10.85; 49% males) had data on sMRI.

RESULTS

Carriers of the Methionine (met) allele exposed to high level of childhood abuse demonstrated significantly poorer cognitive functioning compared to homozygotic Valine (val/val) carriers. Taking in consideration multiple testing, using a more conservative p value, this was still shown for physical abuse and emotional abuse, as well as a trend level for sexual abuse. Further, met carriers exposed to high level of childhood sexual abuse showed reduced right hippocampal volume (r(2)=0.43; p=0.008), and larger right and left lateral ventricles (r(2)=0.37; p=0.002, and r(2)=0.27; p=0.009, respectively). Our findings were independent of age, gender, diagnosis and intracranial volume.

CONCLUSION

Our data demonstrate that in patients with psychoses, met carriers of the BDNF val66met with high level of childhood abuse have more cognitive and brain abnormalities than all other groups.