Affiliations: Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of
Medicine, New York, NY, USA | Formerly: Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai School
of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Stephen L. Snyder, M.D., Mount Sinai Med.
Ctr., Box 1228, One G.L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA. Tel.: +1 212 241
2155; Fax: +1 212 369 6817.
Abstract: Bizarre visual symptoms and absurd verbal responses to questions, in
a 32-year-old man recovering from a severe asthma episode, suggested a possible
conversion disorder with Ganser-like symptoms. Positron Emission
Tomography (PET)revealed bilateral lesions involving occipital association
cortex and posterior temporal and parietal lobes, most likely infarcts from
hypoxia. PET permitted correlation of the patient's specific cortical lesions
with his unusual perceptual, cognitive, and speech symptoms, including
Ganser-like state , to a degree not previously possible in such cases.
