title: [Dissociative stupor--differential diagnosis of coma following injury].
abstract: Two cases are described in which a dissociative stupor originating from conversion neurosis simulated a coma following a sustained trauma. At first both patients showed no response to being addressed or to pain stimuli. They presented an upward eye gaze deviation, cardiorespiratory functions were stable. Following extensive diagnostic procedures revealing no organic cause for the clinical symptoms, the diagnosis of a hysterical consciousness disorder was stated. Symptoms of conversion neuroses include lacking call response, gait disorder, seizure-like conditions and strength diminution in one or more extremities. In these cases suspicious facts are the absence of injuries (for example by falling down or tongue bite during a dissociative attack), eye gaze deviation and the phenomenon that, when the patient's arm is raised above the head and let fall, it never hits the face but glides down beside the body.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Anästhesiologie und Intensivmedizin, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hintze
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Runge
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hachenberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wendt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003128:Coma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests
vernacular_title: Dissoziativer Stupor--eine Differentialdiagnose des Komas nach Unfällen.