Klüver-Bucy syndrome: symptoms, causes and associated disorders
The correct functioning of our brain allows our body to function properly and allows us to adapt and respond to the environment around us. A) Yes, we can regulate and organize our behavior so that we make it functional and allow us to satisfy our needs.
However, sometimes it is possible to suffer serious injuries or disorders that can generate the appearance of different symptoms that make our functioning and adaptation difficult and that can lead to situations of great danger. This is the case of Klüver-Bucy syndrome , which we will discuss in this article.
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The Klüver-Bucy syndrome
It receives the name of Klüver-Bucy syndrome to a set of symptoms associated with the destruction of certain brain areas , existing both in humans and apes (in fact it was discovered by Heinrich Klüver and Paul Bucy during the experimentation with monkeys) and with serious consequences in the daily functioning of the sufferer.
The main symptoms of this disorder are the presence of lack of fear before stimuli that should generate it, absence of risk assessment, meekness and obedience together with hypersexuality indiscriminate, hyperphagia (the subject eats excessively and with lack of control over the intake, and can even eat inedible objects and materials such as plastics), hyperorality or tendency to explore everything with the mouth, hypermetamorphosis or tendency to overexcite any visual stimulus and imitate it, lack of recognition or visual agnosia and memory alterations.
There may also be language or aphasia problems. They often show anger or rage, but they express it in a placid and apparently arreactive way.
This set of symptoms causes a great impact on the daily life of those who suffer from it, affecting his life in areas such as work, personal relationships, family or even the basic activities of daily life. It is a very limiting syndrome that requires treatment and that indicates the existence of lesions or some type of cerebral involvement.
Causes of the disorder
Unlike other disorders and syndromes, in which the causes of their appearance are not completely clear, the Klüver-Bucy syndrome has been observed as a direct consequence of the bilateral extirpation or injury of the amygdaloid complex and part of the temporal lobes ( hippocampus and uncus are usually affected).
This destruction explains the existence of symptomatology linked to affectivity, to the emission or inhibition of emotional responses and the management of aggressiveness and sexuality, among many others. The alteration or destruction of the inferior temporal, where the associative visual areas are found, explains the frequent presence of agnosia at a visual level.
In short, it causes the set of symptoms mentioned above both by the destruction of the area responsible for these functions and the cessation of information flow that other areas need to integrate.
Disorders in which it appears
While the causes of Klüver-Bucy syndrome are bilateral brain damage in the amygdaloid and temporal complex , said injury can appear in a large number of situations, medical conditions and disorders in which neuronal degeneration occurs. It can be useful to know some of them, especially highlighting the following.
1. Cranio-encephalic trauma
Depending on the brain area affected and the damage that occurs, a traumatic brain injury can generate the Klüver-Bucy syndrome.
2. Stroke
Cerebral hemorrhages and / or ischemia are also frequent causes of Kluver-Bucy syndrome. The destruction, drowning or compression of the neurons of the different cerebral areas, if it occurs bilaterally in the temporal and amygdal complex, could result in the appearance of said syndrome.
3. Herpetic encephalitis
Herpetic encephalitis, infection of the nervous system caused by retrograde transmission of the herpes virus to brain tissue (frequently affecting this infection to the temporal lobe), it is also a cause associated with the Klüver-Bucy syndrome. In fact, it is considered its most frequent cause.
4. Temporal epilepsy
Epilepsy is a disorder that can cause great affectation to the sufferer and that is also one of the most frequent causes of this syndrome. The hyperactivation of neuronal beams it can cause neuronal destruction, and the appearance of this syndrome.Although during a crisis it is possible it may appear temporarily, to more epileptic seizures the greater risk of it becoming more permanent.
- Related article: "Epilepsy: definition, causes, diagnosis and treatment"
5. Dementias
Kluver Bucy syndrome occurs frequently in neurodegenerative diseases like dementias. In dementia, neurons degenerate, stopping functioning correctly and dying progressively. When this affectation damages the temporal one, it is frequent that this syndrome appears.
The most prototypical case is that of Alzheimer's disease, in which it is common to find the Klüver-Bucy syndrome in phase 3 or in the final phase, in which the maximum cerebral deterioration occurs, with the majority of mental capacities depleted (already he does not recognize those around him or himself before the mirror, he slowly goes silent and his movement ceases, his language is profoundly altered) and there is total dependence for survival that ends with the death of the patient. It also appears in frontotemporal dementias or in Pick's disease.
6. Anoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
Anoxia or lack of oxygen in the brain causes neuronal death. What if it occurs in the areas indicated above, can lead to the onset of Klüver-Bucy syndrome.
7. Meningitis
Meningitis or inflammation of the meninges caused by an infection is another cause of this disorder, due to the chemical changes that the infection causes and to the understanding of the brain by the meninges. If, in addition to the meninges, the encephalon is inflamed, the syndrome is even more likely.
8. Surgical injuries
Although it is not common at present, Klüver-Bucy syndrome may sometimes appear as a result of injuries caused during brain surgery. Especially when it is necessary to carry out the resection of both temporal lobes.
9. Tumors
The presence of brain tumors is also a possible cause of Klüver-Bucy syndrome. It can occur in benign tumors if they are located or compress the temporal, or infiltrative malignant tumors. It is also possible that it occurs secondarily to the metastasis of a tumor located outside the nervous system.
Treatment
Klüver-Bucy syndrome is a disorder caused by severe brain injury , there is little capacity for recovery in most cases. There is no cure for this problem. However, it is possible to establish treatments that help control symptoms, and may produce improvements such as benzodiazepines and anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine.
Likewise, some patients may have improvement if the cerebral involvement decreases. This is the case, for example, with some traumatic brain injuries or strokes (once the area of ischemic penumbra is recovered or the bleeding is reabsorbed), in some cases of treated epilepsy or when an infection is eliminated without causing permanent damage.
Bibliographic references:
- Ledo-Varela, M.T .; Giménez-Amaya, J.M. and Llamas, A. (2007). The human amygdalin complex and its implication in psychiatric disorders. An. Sist. Sanit. Navar .; 30 (1): 61-74.
- Klüver, H. & Bucy, P. (1997). Preliminary analysis of functions of the temporal lobes in monkeys. 1939. J. Neuropsychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 9 (4): 606-620
- Soto-Cabrera, E .; González-Aguilar, A. and Márquez-Romero, J.M. (2010). Klüver-Bucy syndrome secondary to medulloblastoma metastasis. Neurology; 25: 135-136. Mexico.
