Kluver Bucy syndrome

Overview

  • Kluver-Bucy Syndrome: A condition where damage to the temporal brain lobes from any of a variety of causes (accident, hypoglycemia, Alzheimer's and others) results in symptoms such as memory loss and abnormal behavior.

  • Kluver-Bucy Syndrome: A neurobehavioral syndrome associated with bilateral medial temporal lobe dysfunction. Clinical manifestations include oral exploratory behavior; tactile exploratory behavior; hypersexuality; BULIMIA; MEMORY DISORDERS; placidity; and an inability to recognize objects or faces. This disorder may result from a variety of conditions, including CRANIOCEREBRAL TRAUMA; infections; ALZHEIMER DISEASE; PICK DISEASE OF THE BRAIN; and CEREBROVASCULAR DISORDERS.

Symptoms

The list of signs and symptoms mentioned in various sources for Kluver-Bucy Syndrome includes the 8 symptoms listed below:

  • Inability to recognize people
  • Lack of fear reaction
  • Lack of rage reaction
  • Hypersexuality
  • Homosexuality
  • Bulimia
  • Hypermetamorphosis
  • Memory deficiency

Note that Kluver-Bucy Syndrome symptoms usually refers to various symptoms known to a patient, but the phrase Kluver-Bucy Syndrome signs may refer to those signs only noticable by a doctor.

Causes

  • Head trauma (e.g., concussion, hemorrhage) –Usually results in transient retrograde and anterograde amnesia Alzheimer's disease –Most common cause of chronic amnesia Infection –Herpes simplex encephalitis is a particularly common cause of infectious amnesia, because it has a predilection for the temporal lobes
  • Seizure disorders –Retrograde amnesia is most common after a generalized tonic-clonic seizure during the postictal period –Some complex partial seizure foci (particularly temporal lobe epilepsy) can also produce “blank” periods of memory
  • Toxicologic insults –Binge alcohol consumption –Benzodiazepine use (e.g., “date rape” drug flunitrazepam, also known as Rohypnol)
  • Psychogenic causes are relatively common, but should be a diagnosis of exclusion
  • Korsakoff's syndrome

Transient global amnesia –A rare, transient, ischemic attack-like condition of proposed vascular etiology –Causes abrupt onset of short-term memory loss for minutes to hours –Typically occurs in patients older than 50 –Seen in patients with migraines

Diagnosis

All patients with a history of amnesia deserve a CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The CT scan would be more cost-effective and would be the diagnostic test of choice because it also helps detect acute brain hemorrhages. Patients with fever should have a spinal tap as well as CBC, urinalysis, and chemistry panel. These patients also probably should have a blood culture. An electroencephalogram (EEG) should be ordered to rule out epilepsy and toxic metabolic inflammatory diseases of the brain. If all these studies are negative and an organic cause is still considered, then referral to a neurosurgeon or neurologist is in order. If these studies are negative and a psychiatric disorder is suspected, a psychiatrist should be consulted.