Complex visual hallucination and mirror sign in posterior cortical atrophy

Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2006 Jul;114(1):62-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00778.x.

Abstract

Objective: In posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), visual hallucinations are rare symptoms and mirror sign has not been described.

Method: Single case report.

Results: We reported a 60-year-old woman with PCA who reported complex visual hallucinations, such as a man walking in her room, and mirror sign, which was the perception of a stranger staring at her when she looked into a mirror. She could not recognize images of herself in the mirror correctly, although she could recognize that a person standing next to her and the images of that person reflected in the mirror were the same person.

Conclusion: Early complex visual hallucinations in this patient appeared to be more characteristic of dementia with Lewy body than Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is hard to explain mirror sign in this patient as being because of either prosopagnosia, Balint's syndrome or advanced AD. This patient may have other underlying cognitive dysfunction.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Agnosia / diagnosis
  • Agnosia / physiopathology
  • Agraphia / diagnosis
  • Agraphia / physiopathology
  • Atrophy
  • Cerebral Ventricles / pathology
  • Dominance, Cerebral / physiology*
  • Dyslexia, Acquired / diagnosis
  • Dyslexia, Acquired / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Hallucinations / diagnosis*
  • Hallucinations / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Lewy Body Disease / diagnosis*
  • Lewy Body Disease / physiopathology
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Occipital Lobe / blood supply
  • Occipital Lobe / pathology*
  • Parietal Lobe / blood supply
  • Parietal Lobe / pathology*
  • Prosopagnosia / diagnosis
  • Prosopagnosia / physiopathology
  • Regional Blood Flow / physiology
  • Syndrome
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon*