[Alien hand syndrome is a rare symptom of stroke]

Abstract

Alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a rare condition, which is defined as involuntary meaningful movements of a limb associated with loss of ownership over the limb. It affects mostly the left hand. Corticobasal degeneration, stroke and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are the three leading causes of AHS. AHS is classically divided into three subcategories: frontal, callosal and posterior. Loss of inhibitory tone and loss of bilateral hemisphere activation are the hypothesised pathophysiologic causes of AHS. This is a case report of a posterior AHS in a 47-year-old woman after stroke in the right parietal lobe.