With great interest, we read the case report "Self-injurious behaviour in SCA17: a new clinical observation"[1] by Bonomo and colleagues, describing two patients with spinocerebellar ataxia type 17 (SCA17) who presented with repetitive skin scratching. While self-injurious behavior is a common feature in mental retardation [2] and primarily psychiatric disorders [3], this was the first report of this phenomenon in patients with SCA17.We here report another patient with SCA17 presenting with severe skin scratching.Initially, this 72-year old patient with a positive family history noticed slurred speech and progressive gait impairment, including balance problems around the age of 56. The disease was then characterized by progressive cognitive decline, moderate generalized chorea, dysarthria, and limb and gait ataxia (SARA 12/2018: 16/40, 09/2019: 21.5/40, MoCA 05/2016: 11/30). Genetic testing in 2011 revealed 38 and 50 CAG repeats in the TBP gene (cutoff 48 repeats), confirming the diagnosis of SCA17. An MRI in 2014 showed global brain atrophy including cerebellar volume loss with a predominant involvement of the vermis. An individualized treatment with the antiglutamatergic drug riluzole was initiated in 2017 to treat ataxia symptoms. In 2018, the wife reported an increase of disorientation and restlessness, which progressed over the following months. A therapy with quetiapine was started (initially 50mg daily, later up to 100mg daily), which did not significantly improve restlessness. In June 2019, two years after the initiation of riluzole therapy, the patient started to severely scratch himself mainly at the neck, trunk, and arms. Due to progressive dementia, he was not able to provide meaningful information regarding