title: A Case of Right Alien Hand Syndrome Coexisting with Right-Sided Tactile Extinction.
abstract: The alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a fascinating movement disorder. Patients with AHS experience one of their limbs as alien, which acts autonomously and performs meaningful movements without being guided by the intention of the patient. Here, we report a case of a 74-years old lady diagnosed with an atypical Parkinson syndrome by possible corticobasal degeneration. The patient stated that she could not control her right hand and that she felt like this hand had her own life. We tested the patient for ownership illusions of the hands and general tactile processing. Results revealed that when blindfolded, the patient recognized touch to her alien hand only if it was presented separated from touch to the other hand (bilateral asynchronous touch). Delivering touch synchronously to both the alien and the healthy hand resulted in failure of recognizing touch to the alien hand (bilateral synchronous touch). Thus, AHS here co-existed with right-sided tactile extinction and is one of only very few cases in which the alien hand was felt on the right side. We discuss the results in the light of recent research on AHS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schaefer
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Denke
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ivayla
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Apostolova
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Jochen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Heinze
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Imke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Galazky
keywords: alien hand syndrome; corticobasal degeneration; tactile extinction; touch; vision