Involuntary hand levitation associated with parietal damage: another alien hand syndrome

The alien hand syndrome (AHS) usually consists of an autonomous motor activity perceived as an involuntary and purposeful movement, with a feeling of foreignness of the involved limb, commonly associated with a failure to recognise ownership of the limb in the absence of visual clues. It has been de...

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Main Authors: Paulo E.M. Carrilho, Paulo Caramelli, Francisco Cardoso, Egberto Reis Barbosa, Carlos A. Buchpiguel, Ricardo Nitrini
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Thieme Revinter Publicações 2001-09-01
Series:Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
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Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2001000400007&tlng=en
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author Paulo E.M. Carrilho
Paulo Caramelli
Francisco Cardoso
Egberto Reis Barbosa
Carlos A. Buchpiguel
Ricardo Nitrini
author_facet Paulo E.M. Carrilho
Paulo Caramelli
Francisco Cardoso
Egberto Reis Barbosa
Carlos A. Buchpiguel
Ricardo Nitrini
author_sort Paulo E.M. Carrilho
collection DOAJ
description The alien hand syndrome (AHS) usually consists of an autonomous motor activity perceived as an involuntary and purposeful movement, with a feeling of foreignness of the involved limb, commonly associated with a failure to recognise ownership of the limb in the absence of visual clues. It has been described in association to lesions of the frontal lobes and corpus callosum. However, parietal damage can promote an involuntary, but purposeless, hand levitation, which, sometimes, resembles AHS. In the present study, four patients (cortico-basal ganglionic degeneration -- n=2; Alzheimer's disease -- n=1 and parietal stroke -- n=1) who developed alien hand motor behaviour and whose CT, MRI and/or SPECT have disclosed a major contralateral parietal damage or dysfunction are described. These results reinforce the idea that parietal lobe lesions may also play a role in some patients with purposeless involuntary limb levitation, which is different from the classic forms of AHS.
format Article
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institution OA Journals
issn 1678-4227
language English
publishDate 2001-09-01
publisher Thieme Revinter Publicações
record_format Article
series Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
spelling doaj-art-ad00a637e25d49a1b40b7e44a91b3ffd2025-08-20T01:59:39ZengThieme Revinter PublicaçõesArquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria1678-42272001-09-01593A52152510.1590/S0004-282X2001000400007Involuntary hand levitation associated with parietal damage: another alien hand syndromePaulo E.M. Carrilho0Paulo Caramelli1Francisco Cardoso2Egberto Reis Barbosa3Carlos A. Buchpiguel4Ricardo Nitrini5Universidade de São PauloUniversidade de São PauloUniversidade Federal de Minas GeraisUniversidade de São PauloUniversidade de São PauloUniversidade de São PauloThe alien hand syndrome (AHS) usually consists of an autonomous motor activity perceived as an involuntary and purposeful movement, with a feeling of foreignness of the involved limb, commonly associated with a failure to recognise ownership of the limb in the absence of visual clues. It has been described in association to lesions of the frontal lobes and corpus callosum. However, parietal damage can promote an involuntary, but purposeless, hand levitation, which, sometimes, resembles AHS. In the present study, four patients (cortico-basal ganglionic degeneration -- n=2; Alzheimer's disease -- n=1 and parietal stroke -- n=1) who developed alien hand motor behaviour and whose CT, MRI and/or SPECT have disclosed a major contralateral parietal damage or dysfunction are described. These results reinforce the idea that parietal lobe lesions may also play a role in some patients with purposeless involuntary limb levitation, which is different from the classic forms of AHS.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2001000400007&tlng=enalien hand syndromeparietal lobeAlzheimer's diseasecortico-basal ganglionic degeneration
spellingShingle Paulo E.M. Carrilho
Paulo Caramelli
Francisco Cardoso
Egberto Reis Barbosa
Carlos A. Buchpiguel
Ricardo Nitrini
Involuntary hand levitation associated with parietal damage: another alien hand syndrome
Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
alien hand syndrome
parietal lobe
Alzheimer's disease
cortico-basal ganglionic degeneration
title Involuntary hand levitation associated with parietal damage: another alien hand syndrome
title_full Involuntary hand levitation associated with parietal damage: another alien hand syndrome
title_fullStr Involuntary hand levitation associated with parietal damage: another alien hand syndrome
title_full_unstemmed Involuntary hand levitation associated with parietal damage: another alien hand syndrome
title_short Involuntary hand levitation associated with parietal damage: another alien hand syndrome
title_sort involuntary hand levitation associated with parietal damage another alien hand syndrome
topic alien hand syndrome
parietal lobe
Alzheimer's disease
cortico-basal ganglionic degeneration
url http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2001000400007&tlng=en
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AT egbertoreisbarbosa involuntaryhandlevitationassociatedwithparietaldamageanotheralienhandsyndrome
AT carlosabuchpiguel involuntaryhandlevitationassociatedwithparietaldamageanotheralienhandsyndrome
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