Simultaneous Doppelgänger and limb amputation impression in right frontal opercular stroke

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2011 Nov;82(11):1209-11. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.2010.221333. Epub 2010 Nov 3.

Abstract

A case is described of a patient who presented almost simultaneously the impression that his left arm was amputated and the feeling of the presence of his invisible Doppelgänger. While these body scheme disorders have both been described after (right) parietal lesions, a right frontal opercular ischaemic stroke was found in the neurological work up. Diffusion tensor imaging showed that the stroke involved the ventral bundle of the superior longitudinal fasciculus that connects the parietal to the frontal lobe. The unusual clinical presentation of this frontal lesion may have been due to a 'diaschisis'-like phenomenon via the superior longitudinal fasciculus.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Ataxia / diagnosis
  • Diffusion Tensor Imaging / methods*
  • Frontal Lobe / injuries*
  • Hallucinations / diagnosis
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Parietal Lobe / injuries*
  • Perceptual Disorders / diagnosis
  • Sensation Disorders / diagnosis
  • Stroke / pathology*