Hypersexuality following bilateral thalamic infarction: case report

Hypersexuality is a rare but well recognized condition following brain injury. It has been described secondarily to dysfunction in the hypothalamus, the temporal and frontal lobes. We report a 63 year-old man that developed neuropsychological disturbances with hypersexuality as a prominent feature, disinhibition and moderate memory loss, hypersomnia and irritability after a bilateral paramedian thalamic infarction. A SPECT showed frontal hypoperfusion. We believe that these findings are expression of frontal-subcortical circuits dysfunction, particularly the orbitofrontal circuit, secondary to dorso medial thalamic infarction which probably plays a role in the determination of human sexual behavior. This case favors a thalamic modulation of frontal function.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mutarelli,Eduardo G., Omuro,Antonio M.P., Adoni,Tarso
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Academia Brasileira de Neurologia - ABNEURO 2006
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2006000100032
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!