A case report: Sanchís-Banús syndrome

Abstract

Introduction

There are few reported cases relating visual acuity and psychosis. The Spanish psychiatrist Sanchís-Banús focused on two patients who became blind and who, due to stress developed paranoid and jealousy delusional ideas. He called it “Sanchís-Banús syndrome” (SBS) that is mentioned in the psychiatry literature.

Methodology

A case report. We present a case of “paranoid delusion of the blind” (SBS), quite similar in its clinical characteristics to those of the original patients of the valencian psychiatrist Sanchís-Banús. In our case, we met a 46-years-old woman, who worked as a lottery seller because she had a visual problem: retinitis pigmentosa. She had had her first psychotic decompensation when the blindness started. In spite of having achieved good social and work performance with quetiapine 400 mg/daily, laboral conflicts and stress caused her delusional ideas again. She began to think that her mother was not her real mother (Capgras syndrome) and that she was being persecuted. She also did not eat the meal and did not drink water because she thought that they were contaminated.

Results

We started treatment with clozapine at doses of 300 mg every day (50-50-200) combined with aripiprazole15 mg/day tolerating the medication without notable effects. After this adjustment of medication, remission and good criticism of hallucinatory and delusional clinical course. The nosological, clinical, and prognostic features of SBS are discussed in light of the current literature.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.