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Case 21 - Who Are These People in My Living Room?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2021

Pedro Rosa-Neto
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Serge Gauthier
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
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Summary

A 73-year-old right-handed man presented with a 1-year history of visual hallucinations. The hallucinations were described as the sight of intruders, about 20–30 people who were seen in his living-room and sometimes threaten him with their eyes. He frequently asked his wife about these people and how she could tolerate their presence. He also made complaints to the front door clerks about allowing these people to enter the building. Sometimes he saw children and animals running around the house. The hallucinations were vivid, well-formed and exclusively visual. He often had psychomotor agitation in response to the visions. Associated with the hallucinations, he began to present forgetfulness described as difficulties in word finding, decreased speed of thought, difficulty reasoning, occasional difficulties in understanding long sentences, and difficulty in learning new information. His relatives noted difficulties in recognition of objects through vision and intense fluctuation in the level of attention, with periods when the patient “stared at the walls” and periods of daytime drowsiness. He had an episode of topographical disorientation where he could not find his way back home. His clinical picture was described as slowly progressive.

Type
Chapter
Information
Case Studies in Dementia
Common and Uncommon Presentations
, pp. 96 - 100
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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