An Investigation on the Preconditions and Diagnosis Methods for Alien Hand Syndrome

Abstract

Although it is not a very common condition, people who have suffered from neuro-damage or neuro-diseases are at risk for developing a condition known as Alien hand syndrome (AHS). Individuals who have this condition are unable to control the movement of their hands for certain brief intervals of time. In order to improve upon the treatment of individuals with AHS, it is important that signs and symptoms of the disease are identified as soon as possible. The purpose of this investigation is to catalog the data regarding the pre-existing conditions and the method of diagnosis for AHS. Within the review, it was revealed that stroke was the most common pre-existing condition for the disease. Therefore, physicians who have stroke patients within their care should carefully monitor their condition in case they do develop AHS. Additionally, it was found that using an MRI machine was the most common method of diagnosing a patient with AHS. This was most likely because MRI scans provide the most information about a patient's brain functionality which can be used to deduce if an individual has AHS.

Keywords: alien hand syndrome; ct scan; dtt; mri images; pet scans.

Figure 1. Frequency of Various Medical Imaging Techniques Reported in Different Studies

MRI: magnetic resonance imaging; CT: cranial tomography; PET: positron emission tomography; DTT: diffusion tensor tractography