ALIEN HAND SYNDROME - A MINI REVIEW

Anitha Nandagopal*, Fatima Umaira Saeed and Anupama Koneru

ABSTRACT

Alien hand syndrome (AHS) also called as Dr. Strangelove syndrome or anarchic hand is autonomous, motor, involuntary movement of limb. It is caused when a person had two brain hemispheres surgically separated, as seen in epilepsy, psychosis, migraine, parkinsonism, Creuzfeldt Jacob disease, HIV, tumor etc. This disorder is associated with frontal, occipital and parietal lobes of brain. Any damage to these lobes results in prior activation of primary motor cortex, disconnection between hemispheres of brain and loss of inhibitory control in pre motor system which results in uncoordinated movements of afflicted limb. AHS can be diagnosed by using neuroimaging techniques like FMRI, FDG-PET, DTT, rCBF using SPECT. AHS can be treated through direct physical interventions such as by using of cane, drugs like Clonazepam, botulinum toxin (butox) and visualization strategies.

Keywords: Alien hand syndrome, involuntary movement, pre motor cortex, neuroimaging, Butulinum.