A Case of Psychogenic Paraplegia Documented During Sleep by Video Monitoring

Oh, Hyung-Geun; Lee, Kyeong-Seok; Park, Hyung-Kook; Yang, Kwan-Ik

doi:2009.6.1.60

J Korean Sleep Res Soc > Volume 6(1); 2009 > Article

CASE REPORT

J Korean Sleep Res Soc. 2009;6(1):60-62. doi: https://doi.org/10.13078/jksrs.09012

A Case of Psychogenic Paraplegia Documented During Sleep by Video Monitoring

Hyung-Geun Oh¹, Kyeong-Seok Lee², Hyung-Kook Park¹, Kwan-Ik Yang¹

¹Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan, Korea
²Department of Neurosurgery, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan, Korea

Corresponding Author: Kwan-Ik Yang ,Tel: +82-41-570-2290, Fax: +82-41-579-9021, Email: kiyang@sch.ac.kr

Received: June 10, 2009 Accepted: June 24, 2009 Published online: June 30, 2009

ABSTRACT

Psychogenic paraplegia is an uncommon conversion disorder characterized by nonorganic loss of motor function precipitated by some type of traumatic event. A 60-year-old man was referred from neurosurgery department with the chief complaint of paraplegia. One year ago he was involved in a motor vehicle accident. Whole spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electrophysiological study couldn’t explain the organic cause of paraplegia. We decided to observe him during his sleep as we suspected a psychogenic cause for the symptoms. Irregular, non-stereotyped and involuntary leg movements were documented during sleep by video monitoring, and he was diagnosed as psychogenic paraplegia. In conclusion, if a psychogenic paraplegia is suspected, video monitoring during sleep could be recommended as a differentiation tool from neurological disorder.

Keywords: Psychogenic paraplegia | Video monitoring