title: Chronic somatoparaphrenia: a follow-up study on two clinical cases.
abstract: Somatoparaphrenia consists in abnormal or bizarre verbal reports about some parts of the body. Such a pathological condition usually lasts for days or weeks and is variably associated with other cognitive defects. In the present paper we describe exceptionally long-lasting somatoparaphrenia in two focal brain-damaged patients: GA who had a right hemorrhagic fronto-parieto-temporal stroke and AC who developed a left ischemic parieto-occipital lesion. The presence and severity of somatoparaphrenia did not change in either patient during a 2-year follow-up, whereas the two patients showed different evolution of anosognosia for motor disorders, severity of extrapersonal neglect and cognitive impairments. Moreover, impairment of position sense was associated with somatoparaphrenia in one patient only; neither patient showed personal neglect. The reported clinical observations suggest that somatoparaphrenia can be observed as a body-related chronic disorder and can outlast other cognitive defects, even if it arose in conjunction with them.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Via Vivaldi 43, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Rossella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cogliano
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Crisci
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Conson
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grossi
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trojano
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D001828:Body Image; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000150:complications; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003702:Delusions / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D057187:Independent Living; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000150:complications; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed