[Complex visual hallucinations following occipital infarct and perception of optical illusions].
BACKGROUND
The physiopathology of visual hallucinations in the hemianopic field secondary to occipital infarct is uncertain.


METHODS
We report the case of a patient with a history of occipital infarct who presented nonstereotyped complex hallucinations in the quadranopic field resulting from a second controlateral occipital infarct. Based on an experience with motion optical illusions, we suggested that the association of these two occipital lesions, involving the V5 motion area on the one side and the V1 area on the other side, could have produced the complex hallucinations due to a release phenomenon. The patient experienced simultaneously a double visual consciousness, with both hallucinations and real visual perceptions.


CONCLUSIONS
The study of perceptual illusions in patients with visual hallucinations could illustrate the innovative theory of visual consciousness as being not unified but constituted of multiple microconsciousnesses.
Urgences cérébrovasculaires, AP-HP, hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47, boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France. pauline.renou@chu-bordeaux.fr
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Renou
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Deltour
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Samson
D000368:Aged; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000150:complications; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D004172:Diplopia / Q000209:etiology; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology; D009778:Occipital Lobe; D009903:Optical Illusions / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D014794:Visual Fields; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*