Abstract
Alien hand syndrome (AHS) is an involuntary and rare neurological disorder emerges at upper extremity. AHS is a disconnection syndrome with the symptoms of losing sense of agency and sense of ownership, and presence of involuntary autonomic motor activity. There are frontal, callosal and posterior types of AHS and each of them occurs depend on the lesions of different of the brain. Posterior variant is a rarely encountered AHS type compared to others. AHS, generally regarded as persistent, but rarely maybe observed as paroxysmal. In this article, we present 71 year old patient with right posterior parietal lobe infarction and developed posterior variant AHS on left arm 1 month after discharge from the hospital. To discriminate AHS from conditions such as extrapyramidal movement disorders and epileptic seizures that take part in differential diagnosis should be kept in mind by the clinicians. Wrong and unnecessary treatments could be prevented in this way.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
André C, Dominques RC (1996) Transient alien hand syndrome: is this a seizure or a transient ischaemic attack? J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 60(2):232–233
Brázdil M, Kuba R, Rektor I (2006) Rostral cingulate motor area and paroxysmal alien hand syndrome. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 77(8):992–993
Dolado AM, Castrillo C, Urra DG, de Seijas EV (1995) Alien hand sign or alien hand syndrome? J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 59:100–101
Doody RS, Jankovic J (1992) The alien hand and related signs. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 55:806–810
Goldberg G, Bloom KK (1990) The alien hand sign. Localization, lateralization and recovery. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 69:228–238
Jeannerod M (1988) The neuronal and behavioral organization of goal-directed movements, vol 15. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Kessler J, Hathout G (2009) Dominant posterior-variant alien hand syndrome after acute left parietal infarction. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 111:633–635
Kikkert MA, Ribbers GM, Koudstaal PJ (2006) Alien hand syndrome in stroke: a report of 2 cases and review of the literature. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 87:728–732
Leiguarda R, Starkstein S, Nogues M, Berthier M, Arbelaiz R (1993a) Paroxysmal alien hand syndrome. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 56:788–792
Leiguarda R, Starkstein S, Nogues M, Berthier M, Arbelaiz R (1993b) Paroxysmal alien hand syndrome. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 56:788–792
Martí-Fàbregas J, Kulisevsky J, Baró E, Mendoza G, Valencia C, Martí-Vilalta JL (2000) Alien hand sign after a right parietal infarction. Cerebrovasc Dis 10:70–72
Park YW, Kim CH, Kim MO, Jeong HJ, Jung HY (2012) Alien hand syndrome in stroke—case report and neurophysiologic study. Ann Rehabil Med 36(4):556–560
Sarva H, Deik A, Severt WL (2014) Pathophysiology and treatment of alien hand syndrome. Tremor Other Hyperkinet Mov (N Y) 4:241
Terazzi E, Mittino D, Monaco F (2010) Posterior alien hand in a left-handed person. BMJ Case Rep 19–24. doi:10.1136/bcr.10.2010.3401
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Demiryürek, B.E., Gündogdu, A.A., Acar, B.A. et al. Paroxysmal posterior variant alien hand syndrome associated with parietal lobe infarction: case presentation. Cogn Neurodyn 10, 453–455 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-016-9388-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-016-9388-y