Behavioral Disconnection Syndrome Manifesting as Combined Mania and Visual-Auditory Hallucinations Secondary to Isolated Right Thalamic Hemorrhage
Publication: The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences
Damage to the thalamus can contribute to the phenomenon of diaschisis manifesting as various behavioral symptoms. We present the case of a 55-year-old man who presented with acute mania and late-onset combined visual and auditory hallucinations after right thalamic hemorrhage. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of a combination of mania and visual-auditory hallucination in a patient with isolated thalamic damage. Details of all previous case reports on isolated thalamic damage presenting with mania or hallucination are provided. We propose the networks of diencephalic damage causing mania and hallucinations, which represent the behavioral disconnection syndromes.
It is challenging to localize a single lesion when neuropsychiatric symptoms are the only manifestations. The thalamus is a complex structure connecting between the brainstem and various cortical areas. Damage to the thalamus can contribute to various behavioral conditions. We report the first case, to our knowledge, of a patient who suffered from right thalamic hemorrhage presenting with combined acute mania and visual-auditory hallucinations. The case broadens the clinical approach on the behavioral disturbance secondary to focal brain lesion on the thalamus. We also systematically review the previous reports on the cases of isolated thalamic damage with mania or hallucination. Finally, we provide the proposed networks of diencephalic damage causing mania and hallucinations.
Case Report
A 55-year-old man without a previous history of psychiatric conditions or substance abuse presented with a 1-week history of acute mania. He had irritability, grandiosity, combative speech, paranoid delusion, high energy levels, decreased need for sleep, pressurized speech, euphoria, and inappropriate cheerfulness. The patient had been a mild-mannered and composed person prior to this event. Neurological examination showed no focal neurologic deficits; urine drug screen was negative; MRI showed cavernous malformation with hemorrhage involving the dorsomedial and pulvinar nucleus of the right thalamus (Figure 1); and electroencephalography was normal. Risperidone was started. At 4 months follow-up, the manic symptoms resolved, and risperidone was discontinued.
FIGURE 1. MRI Head Showing the Cavernous Malformation Hemorrhage on the Right Thalamus Involving the Dorsomedial and Pulvinar Nucleia
a The image shows A) axial view on the fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequence; B) axial view on the gradient-echo sequence; and C) sagittal view on the T1 sequence.
One year later, he presented with acute psychosis. He had vividly visual hallucination (transient texts on his phone, unknown people and colorful airplanes). He also reported the musical hallucination that he heard pleasant classical music in particular at night. He denied any commanding or voice hallucination. He had hypnagogic visual and musical hallucinations. He has insight to the hallucinations. MRI head demonstrated stable cavernous malformation (Figure 1). Risperidone was resumed and effectively improved hallucination within a week.
Discussion
Mania
Mania after thalamic lesions has been described in a small number of patients. Symptoms of mania secondary to focal brain lesions are clinically similar to the features of primary psychiatric mania. Some features may help localizing lesions to the thalamus or differentiating from primary mania, such as hemianesthesia, hemiparesis, hypersomnolence, abnormal movement, abnormal gaze, and amnesia.
From literature review, we found 18 cases of mania (including our case) caused by isolated thalamic lesions on various thalamic nuclei, including the dorsomedial, intralaminar, pulvinar, anterior, ventrolateral, and ventromedial nuclei (Table 1). It is interesting that, in all of these cases, the lesions involved the right thalamus, with the isolated right thalamus in 72% (N=13/18) of cases and both thalami in 28% (N=5/18) of cases. The majority of patients (80%) developed mania immediately or within a few days after the damage; however, late-onset mania may occur up to many months after the events. In cases with mild symptoms, patients usually spontaneously recover without medication. In more severe cases, mood stabilizers or atypical antipsychotics are effective treatment. Even though most of the reported patients did not have recurrent mania, a minority of the cases developed hypomania or cyclic depression-mania during the follow-up period.
| Study | Sex | Age (Years) | Locations | Hemisphere | Onset | Etiologies | Manic Symptoms | Associated Symptoms | Treatment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cummings et al.13 | Two cases | NA | Unspecified | Right | Acute | Ischemic stroke | Case 1: euphoria, talkativeness, hypersexuality, euphoric, irritable, and poor judgement | Hemisensory loss, amnesia, denial of illness, and depression (case 2) | Lithium in one case with improvement; no medication in one case |
| Case 2: euphoric, decreased need for sleep, and preoccupied with religion | |||||||||
| Gentilini et al.14 | Male | 66 | Paramedian | Right and Left | Acute | Ischemic Stroke | Hypersexuality, grandiosity, and cheerfulness | Amnesia, somnolence, and delusion | Not reported |
| Female | 47 | Paramedian | Right and Left | Acute | Ischemic stroke | Hyperphagia, euphoria, and childish behaviors | Hypersomnolence, abnormal eye movement, and depression | Not reported | |
| Male | 35 | Paramedian | Right and Left | Acute | Ischemic stroke | Hyperphagia and irritability | Amnesia | Not reported | |
| Bogousslavsky et al.6 | Female | 72 | Paramedian, dorsomedial and ventral lateral | Right | Acute | Ischemic stroke | Smiling and inappropriate laughing and jokes, logorrhea, rapid switching of ideas, lack of spontaneity, and disinhibition | Hypersomnolence, disorientation, | Not reported |
| Starkstein et al.15 | Three cases | NA | Unspecified | Right | NA | Hemorrhage and ischemic stroke | Mania (unspecified symptoms in each case) | NA | NA |
| Kulisevsky et al.16 | Female | 81 | Ventral lateral and ventromedial | Right | Acute | Ischemic stroke | Euphoria, talkativeness, grandiosity, flight of ideas, inappropriate jokes, and decreased need for sleep | Left hemichorea | Haloperidol with improvement after 4 weeks |
| McGilchrist et al.17 | Male | 43 | Paramedian | Right and Left | Acute | Ischemic stroke | Cyclic elation, hypersexuality, hyperphagia, flight of ideas, and decreased need for sleep | Hypersomnolence, cyclical apathy and depression | Not reported |
| Daum et al.18 | NA | 64 | Anterior | Right | Acute | Ischemic Stroke | Hypersexuality, talkativeness, irritability, mood fluctuation, and verbal aggression | Amnesia | Not reported |
| Vuilleumier et al.19 | Male | 63 | Unspecified | Right | Acute | Ischemic stroke | Mania episode followed by hypomania | Prosopoaffective agnosia | Not reported |
| Leibson20 | Male | 53 | Unspecified | Right | Acute | Hemorrhage | Talkativeness, cheerfulness, hypersexuality, and increased energy | Anosognosia, headache and left-sided numbness and weakness, gaze problem, and hemineglect, | Resolved 10 weeks after the stroke |
| Inzelberg et al.21 | Male | 61 | Pulvinar | Right | Acute | Ischemic stroke | Euphoria, talkativeness, disinhibition, flight of ideas, hypersexuality, decreased need for sleep, and increased goal-directed activity | Left hemichorea | Haloperidol with improvement after 8 weeks |
| Benke et al.7 | Male | 38 | Dorsomedial, intralaminar and anterior | Right and Left | 4 weeks | Ischemic stroke | Logorrhea, restlessness, mood elevation, inflated self-esteem, reduced need for food and sleep, and hypersexuality | Amnesia, vertical gaze paralysis, and dysarthria | Low-dose neuroleptic with improvement after 8 weeks |
| Lopez et al8 | Male | 63 | Unspecified | Right | 5 months | Ischemic stroke | Cyclic mania | Bipolar symptoms with cyclic depression, and melancholic stupor | Risperidone, valproic acid, and quetiapine for mania |
| Routh and Hill22 | Male | 83 | Posterior | Right | 2 weeks | Hemorrhage | Aggressiveness, speech disinhibition, talkativeness, flight of ideas, and inflated self-esteem | Paranoid delusions | Olanzapine |
| Julayanont et al. (current case) | Male | 55 | Dorsomedial and pulvinar | Right | Acute | Hemorrhage | Irritability, grandiosity, combative speech, high-energy levels, decreased need for sleep, pressurized speech, euphoria, and inappropriate cheerfulness | Paranoid delusions and amnesia | Risperidone with improvement after 4 weeks |
Peduncular Hallucinosis
Peduncular hallucinosis classically presents with vivid visual hallucination usually with preserved insight. Midbrain damage with or without thalamic involvement is the typical origin of hallucination. Isolated thalamic lesions were rarely reported to cause this condition (Table 2). From the literature review, we found 15 cases (including our case) of hallucinations secondary to isolated thalamic damage. Even though there is no specific thalamic nucleus consistently reported to cause peduncular hallucinosis, the dorsomedial (46%, N=6/13 cases), pulvinar (31%, N=4/13 cases), and anterior (15%, N=2/15 cases) nuclei are the common locations contributing to this condition (Table 2). Unlike mania, there is no relationship between the side of diencephalic lesions and hallucinations. From 15 case reports, the lesions were on the right side in 47% (N=7/15 cases), on the left side in 47% (N=7/15 cases), and on both sides in 6% (N=1/15 case). Similar to mania, the majority of peduncular hallucinosis (66%, N=10/15 cases) occurred within the first week after damages, but late-onset can present up to a year as reported in our case. Atypical antipsychotics are the drug of choice in severe cases.
| Study | Sex | Age (Years) | Locations | Hemisphere | Etiologies | Onset | Hallucination Features | Associated Symptoms | Treatment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visual | Auditory | |||||||||
| Feinberg and Rapcsak23 | Male | 83 | Dorsomedial | Right | Ischemic stroke | Acute | Animals in his house (flying birds and dogs), military marching, girls in an examination room | No | Vertigo, ataxic gait | Resolved in 1 week |
| Serra et al.24 | Male | 68 | Posterior | Right | Ischemic stroke | Acute | Animals and men’s head | No | Left hemiparesis, paraesthesias | Not reported |
| Inzelberg et al.25 | Female | 75 | Unspecified | Left | Ischemic stroke | 2–3 days | No | Musical hallucination of popular songs from her youth | Right hemiparesis and dysphasia | Improved with no reported treatment |
| Noda et al.26 | Male | 72 | Dorsomedial | Right | Ischemic stroke | 3 days | Vivid recollection of his old job, dish of sweet potatoes and cigarette between his fingers | No | Hypersomnolence and nocturnal insomnia | Resolved over 2 weeks with no reported treatment |
| Female | 46 | Anterior | Left | Ischemic stroke | 4 days | Parents who passed away 10 years ago, teapot and teacups on a table | Commanding voice: “Don’t eat” | Memory impairment, right upper limb weakness | Resolved over 2 weeks with no reported treatment | |
| Manford and Anderson27 | Male | 58 | Pulvinar | Right | Ischemic stroke | 10 days | Ball of light, a man in a suit, a black butterfly, dwarves, striped fish swimming | No | No | Not reported |
| Yoshida et al.28 | Female | 73 | Dorsomedial | Left | Ischemic stroke | 2 months | No | Voices telling her about misfortunes, voices of threats and commands, | Anterograde and retrograde amnesia | Risperidone and olanzapine |
| Mollet et al.29 | Female | 61 | Lateral | Right | Ischemic stroke | Acute | College-age boys in colorful Hawaiian shirts, men in black religious clothes | Conversation between college boys | Pain and numbness at the left hemibody | Not reported |
| Güzelcan et al.30 | Male | 46 | Unspecified | right | Tumor | Not reported | Parades of people, seeing spiders, mice running | No | No | Risperidone |
| Mittal and Khan31 | Female | 19 | Ventroanterior | Left | Ischemic stroke | Acute | No | Commanding Voices | Confusion, flat affect, imaginary boyfriend, and paranoid delusion | Risperidone |
| Lee et al.32 | Male | 20 | Anterior | left | Ischemic stroke | Acute | Dangerous hands and snakes | No | Amnesia, anomia, and depersonalization | Not reported |
| Fornazzari et al.12 | Male | 45 | Lateral and posterior | Left | Hemorrhage | 9 months | Sound-tactile, sound-color, and grapheme-gustatory synesthesias | No | Not reported | |
| Delgado and Bogousslavsky33 | Male | 61 | Dorsomedial | Left | Ischemic stroke | Acute | Body distortion above the waist, lights and mice running down the wall | No | Transient perioral and left paresthesias | Disappeared without treatment |
| Female | 48 | Paramedian | Right and Left (right >left) | Ischemic stroke | Acute | No | Voice and noise distortion made by “dinosaurs” | Disorientation | Disappeared without treatment | |
| Julayanont et al. (current case) | Male | 55 | Dorsomedial and pulvinar | Right | Hemorrhage | 12 months | Transient texts on his phone, unknown people and colorful airplanes | Musical hallucination | Paranoid delusions and amnesia | Risperidone |
Even though visual hallucination is the classic type of peduncular hallucinosis, auditory hallucinations also occur after diencephalic damage. To our knowledge, there have been only two case reports of combined visual and auditory hallucinations secondary to isolated thalamic lesions, which involved the anterior and lateral nuclei in each case. Our case is the first report of damage to the dorsomedial and pulvinar nuclei contributing to combined hallucinations.
Network Model of Mania and Hallucinations Secondary to Thalamic Insults
Mania secondary to diencephalic lesions derives from the phenomenon of diaschisis that is caused by disconnection of the thalamus from the thalamo-prefrontal-limbic networks. The magnocellular (medial) part of the dorsomedial nucleus connects the thalamus with the limbic system via the orbitofrontal cortex.1 Damage to this network causes disinhibition of inappropriate behaviors and enhanced reward-seeking behaviors.2 The medial part of the dorsomedial nucleus also projects the neuronal network to the amygdala via the amygdalofugal tract, and thus a lesion on this nucleus can lead to emotional dysregulation, aggression, increased oral intake, and hypersexuality. In addition, damage to the intermediate part of dorsomedial nucleus, which links to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, can contribute to executive dysfunction.
Damage to the anterior nucleus, which is connected to the mammillary bodies and amygdala via the mamillothalamic and ventral amygdalothalamic tract, respectively, causes problem with emotional expression and dysregulation of motivation.1 The pulvinar nucleus is an associative nucleus connecting to multiple cortical areas.1 The medial part of the pulvinar nucleus sends some connections to the anterior insular cortex and functions in controlling emotional awareness that is required for emotional regulation.3 Some fibers from the intermediate part of the pulvinar nucleus also project to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and take part in executive performance.
The role of the right thalamus in the pathogenesis of mania is supported by previous studies demonstrating decreased right thalamic volume in patients with bipolar disorder compared with normal controls4,5 and reduced right thalamic and ipsilateral prefrontal/orbitofrontal perfusion in cases with diencephalic mania.6–8 It is hypothesized that emotional regulation is lateralized, with the right hemisphere controlling negative moods and the left hemisphere controlling positive emotions. The interhemispheric imbalance, with left-sided hyperfunction and right-sided hypofunction, on the prefrontal, orbitofrontal, and insular cortices, may contribute to the emotional releasing effect from the contralesional side and result in secondary mania.9,10
Similar to mania, the diaschisis of neural networks also explains the pathogenesis of peduncular hallucinosis. In the classic peduncular hallucinosis from mesencephalic lesions, the disruption along the pathway from the ascending reticular activating system in the brainstem to the thalamus may contribute to the hallucinations. While in the cases with thalamic lesions, dysregulation between the thalamus and the extrastriate cortex and superior temporal gyrus leads to visual and auditory hallucination, respectively. This hypothesis is supported by a study on the lesion-based resting-state networks, which showed the maximal network overlap for visual hallucinations on the extrastriate visual cortex and for auditory hallucinations on the superior temporal gyrus.11
The pulvinar nucleus is the multimodal integrative nucleus connecting to the posterior parietal, superior temporal, and extrastriate cortices. Damage to this structure may also cause problems with somatosensory-auditory-visual integration, resulting in multimodal hallucinations. The lateral posterior nucleus was reported to cause multimodal somatosensory-visual-auditory-gustatory synesthesia.12
We propose the network explaining the pathogenesis of mania and peduncular hallucinosis secondary to thalamic lesions (see Figure 2).
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Received: 14 November 2016
Accepted: 12 December 2016
Published online: 15 March 2017
Published in print: Fall 2017
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The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.
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