CASE REPORTS
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

How far to investigate presumed psychosomatic symptoms: Lessons from a particular case….

We describe a 43-year-old patient with subacute appearance of neurological and atypical complaints of anergia, anorexia and weight loss six months earlier. In spite of several admissions in different hospitals, no underlying somatic cause could be found and he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital with a tentative diagnosis of major depressive disorder. Subsequently, he was referred to the unit of medically unexplained physical symptoms within the department of general internal medicine for assessment by the psychiatrist, involved in this programme. Based on clinical suspicion and red flag symptoms such as involuntary weight loss, a broader internal medicine reassessment, including FDG whole-body PET-CT was requested. Neurological clinical exam showed minor deviations, but neither brain imaging nor a lumbar puncture were contributory. However, FDG PET-CT revealed abnormal moderately to intensely FDG positive lymph nodes in the retroperitoneum. Laparoscopic lymph node biopsy indicated germ cell tumour metastasis. Anti-NMDA antibody positivity allowed a diagnosis of paraneoplastic anti-NMDA encephalitis. Treatment of the underlying disease, a pure seminoma stadium II, consisting of orchidectomy and chemotherapy, resulted in a spectacular regression of 'psychosomatic' symptoms with long-term ability to return to work, and documented disappearance of the anti-NMDA antibody response.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app