Enucleation in psychosis associated with aqueductal stenosis.
Reports of self-enucleation are frequent in medical literature, but cases of enucleation towards another are rare. We report the case of a man, 20 years of age, who suffered from psychosis with hydrocephalus and aqueductal stenosis that required a forensic psychiatric investigation to ascertain whether he was of unsound mind when he assaulted and enucleated the right eye of an officer and led to the surgical enucleation of the victim's left eye. Based on his clinical interviews and hospitalization record, we conclude that at the time of the assault, he was suffering from a delusional disorder with religious and demonic content, visual and auditory hallucinations, illusion phenomena, delusional interpretations, imaginative elements, a feeling of terror, and command hallucinations that compelled him to perform the act of aggression.
Mancinelli
Iginia
I
Department of Psychiatric Sciences and Psychological Medicine, La Sapienza University, Via Panama 68/70, 00198 Rome, Italy. iginia.mancinelli@uniromal.it
Pompili
Maurizio
M
Scapati
Francesco
F
Lazanio
Simone
S
Kotzalidis
Giorgio D
GD
Tatarelli
Roberto
R
D000328:Adult; D002535:Cerebral Aqueduct / Q000473:pathology*; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000175:diagnosis; D015353:Eye Enucleation; D005131:Eye Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D014754:Violence