SPECT Cerebral en Pacientes con Síndrome de Cotard: a Propósito de dos Casos

Abstract

Introduction

Cotard's syndrome is a rare finding in psychiatry in which the denial of body parts, corporality and even existence, are the main features. In spite of the large number of reports and case series trying to elucidate the neurobiology of Cotard's syndrome, to date there are few studies with detailed descriptions of a possible neurobiological correlate.

Methods

Report of two cases and non-systematic review of the relevant literature.

Case presentation

The first case, a 24-year-old female patient with symptoms of Cotard's and Capgras syndrome, stated that she was dead, rotting inside her and that her family was supplanted by clones. The second case was a 50-year-old woman who mentioned being dead, not having arteries and veins. In functional neuroimaging studies, hypoperfusion was found in the frontal, parietal-temporal and basal ganglia regions.

Literature review

There is little literature regarding the relationship between Cotard's syndrome and functional neuroimaging studies. As reported in the literature, in our patients we found a decrease in cerebral perfusion at the frontal, parietal and temporal levels.

Conclusions

We found frontal, parieto-temporal and basal ganglia hypoperfusion in our patients with Cotard's syndrome.