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Visual and somatosensory phenomena following cerebral venous infarction
- Department of Neurology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland
- Department of General Radiology, Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, Wroclaw Medical University, st. Borowska 213, Wroclaw, Poland
open access
Abstract
The most frequent clinical presentation of occipital or visual tract lesion is hemianopsia or quadrantanopsia. However, damage to the primary or secondary visual cortex can also manifest as visual hallucinations (photopsiae or complex phenomena). We report visual and somatosensory phenomena following cerebral venous infarction based on a study of a patient with a history of recent head injury.
Case presentationWe report a 61-year-old man with a history of recent head injury presented with a headache of two weeks duration. He was complaining of transient visual abnormalities, which he described as impaired ability to recognize faces, dark spots moving in the visual field and distorted contours of an objects. Clinical examination showed a balance disorder with no evidence of visual deficit. During further observation the patient started to experience more complex visual and sensory phenomena of: waving of the ceiling, clouds that he could form and feel, he had an impression of incorrect sizes of given objects, he could see a nonexistent pack of cigarettes and the character from the arcade game Pac-Man “eating” an existing drip stand.
ConclusionsThe patient mentioned above possessing simple and complex visual and somatosensory hallucinations and illusions in the course of venous stroke. A possible mechanism involves irritation of cortical centers responsible for visual processing.
Abstract
The most frequent clinical presentation of occipital or visual tract lesion is hemianopsia or quadrantanopsia. However, damage to the primary or secondary visual cortex can also manifest as visual hallucinations (photopsiae or complex phenomena). We report visual and somatosensory phenomena following cerebral venous infarction based on a study of a patient with a history of recent head injury.
Case presentationWe report a 61-year-old man with a history of recent head injury presented with a headache of two weeks duration. He was complaining of transient visual abnormalities, which he described as impaired ability to recognize faces, dark spots moving in the visual field and distorted contours of an objects. Clinical examination showed a balance disorder with no evidence of visual deficit. During further observation the patient started to experience more complex visual and sensory phenomena of: waving of the ceiling, clouds that he could form and feel, he had an impression of incorrect sizes of given objects, he could see a nonexistent pack of cigarettes and the character from the arcade game Pac-Man “eating” an existing drip stand.
ConclusionsThe patient mentioned above possessing simple and complex visual and somatosensory hallucinations and illusions in the course of venous stroke. A possible mechanism involves irritation of cortical centers responsible for visual processing.
Keywords
Visual/somatosensory hallucinations, Visual/somatosensory illusions, Venous stroke, Irritation of cortical centers
Title
Visual and somatosensory phenomena following cerebral venous infarction
Journal
Neurologia i Neurochirurgia Polska
Issue
Pages
504-506
Page views
354
Article views/downloads
348
DOI
10.1016/j.pjnns.2017.07.007
Bibliographic record
Neurol Neurochir Pol 2017;51(6):504-506.
Keywords
Visual/somatosensory hallucinations
Visual/somatosensory illusions
Venous stroke
Irritation of cortical centers
Authors
Aleksandra Loster-Niewińska
Edyta Dziadkowiak
Justyna Chojdak-Łukasiewicz
Anna Zimny
Bogusław Paradowski