AI Article Synopsis

  • Akinetic mutism (AM) is a behavioral disorder where awake patients cannot move or speak, often linked to surgeries or complications in the brain, such as posterior fossa tumor resections and hydrocephalus.
  • Successful treatment for AM, particularly after shunt failures in hydrocephalic patients, has been achieved using the medication bromocriptine.
  • The causes of AM seem to vary based on its origin, involving different brain pathways, but further research is needed for a thorough understanding of its aetiology.

Article Abstract

Akinetic mutism (AM) is a behavioral disorder characterized by impossibility to move or speak in awake patients. lt has been typically described as a transient disorder following posterior fossa tumour resection. Besides, AM may also appear after recurrent shunt failures in hydrocephalic patients, with no tendency towards improvement, either spontaneously or with shunt revisions. However successful treatment of this second type of AM has been achieved with bromocriptine. We present a patient who developed AM after a posterior fossa surgery complicated by ventriculitis and multiple hydrocephalic events. AM only improved with bromocriptine. We review AM pathophysiology. Although not well known, it appears to be quite different, depending on its cerebellar or hydrocephalic origin. Damage to dentate nucleus or its efferents (mainly of glutamate) should promote AM of cerebellar origin, while damage to paraventricular monoaminergic pathways could explain AM related to repeated shunt failures which has successful response to bromocriptine treatment. However, a more complete study of this disorder is required to ascertain its aetiology.

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