Todd’s Syndrome: An Arabic Single Case of Prolonged Motor Impairment Presentation with Neuropsychological Tests Validation

Authors

  • Muwafak H. Al-Eithan Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist, at Clinical Psychology, and at Rehabilitation Medicine, Prince Sultan Military Medical City

Keywords:

Saudi Arabia, Todd’s syndrome, Postictal hemiplegia, Symptom validity tests, Neuropsychology, Epilepsy, Malingering, Psychogenic

Abstract

This paper presents a rare case of postictal hemiplegia for a prolonged period. The patient has no brain abnormality of vascular nature or any evidence of abnormality on MRI and EEG, but he had a single GTC seizure two months ago. This is the first Arabic case report of prolonged Todd’s syndrome. The patient has no psychological problems either. We tested the hypothesis that there is no motivation factor in his presentation. The patient was totally normal on cognitive neuropsychological tests and on two Symptoms Validity Tests (SVT). This is also the first time SVTs are used with Todd’s syndrome, as far as we are aware.

This rare case raises awareness and enhances our knowledge of clinical presentations, reducing the amount of diagnostic procedures and unnecessary therapies. It also helps clinicians to avoid ‘psychologising’ the clinical presentation as hysteria or psychogenic hemiplegia, in the absence of such evidence.

Downloads

Published

2017-03-28

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Articles

License

Policy for Journals/Articles with Open Access

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post links to their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work

Policy for Journals / Manuscript with Paid Access

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
    1. Publisher retain copyright .

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post links to their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work .