Dandy-Walker variant associated with bipolar affective disorder

The Dandy-Walker malformation is a congenital brain malformation, typically involving the fourth ventricle and the cerebellum. To date, the Dandy-Walker syndrome has not been described in association with bipolar disorder type I mania, and therefore we briefly report the case of a Dandy-Walker variant associated with acute mania. A 10-year-old boy was brought by his mother to the outpatient clinic of the Department of Psychiatry of a tertiary care hospital, with symptoms of mania. The MRI brain of the patient showed a posterior fossa cystic lesion, a giant cisterna magna communicating with the fourth ventricle and mild hypoplasia of the cerebellar vermis, with the rest of the structures being normal and no signs of hydrocephalus. These findings showed that the patient had a Dandy-Walker variant. He responded partially to valproate and olanzepine, which controlled the acute manic symptoms in the ward.