Telephone Effect in Akinetic Mutism From Traumatic Brain Injury

摘要

TO THE EDITOR: Akinetic mutism, first described by Cairns et al. in 1941, is a neuropsychiatric syndrome in which an awake, alert patient lacks spontaneous speech and movement, with relatively preserved attention to sights and sounds.A brief improvement in symptoms when answering a telephone has been noted to occur in some akinetic-mute patients with stroke or hydrocephalus. We report the first documented instance of the "telephone effect" manifesting in a patient with akinetic mutism from traumatic brain injury (TBI). Case Report Mr. H, a 35-year-old man with no significant medical history, was riding a motorized bicycle without a helmet when he lost control and was thrown over the handlebars, striking his head.