Conversion, dissociative amnesia, and Ganser syndrome in a case of "chameleon" syndrome: anatomo-functional findings.
The term "chameleon" was first used in the seventeenth century by Sydenham to describe a patient with a protean semiology. We report a single case of "chameleon" syndrome that challenges the current international criteria for somatoform disorders, dissociative amnesia, and Ganser syndrome. The florid symptoms were as follows: anterograde and retrograde amnesia (including semantic, episodic, and procedural deficits), loss of identity, atypical neuropsychological impairment (approximate answers), left sensitive and motor deficit, and left pseudochoreoathetosis movement disorders. Additional behavioral disorders included the following: anxiety, clouded consciousness, hallucinations, and "belle indifference". A single photon emission computed tomography examination showed bilateral temporal, frontal and a right caudate (in the head of the caudate nucleus) hypoperfusion concordant with a common mechanism of repression in these disorders.
a Department of Neurology , University Hospital of Besançon , Besançon , France.
Eloi
E
Magnin
Catherine
C
Thomas-Antérion
Geraldine
G
Sylvestre
Sophie
S
Haffen
Virgile
V
Magnin-Feysot
Lucien
L
Rumbach
D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005162:Factitious Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*