Brain dead yet mind alive: A positron emission tomography case study of brain metabolism in cotard's syndrome

摘要

In 1882, Jules Cotard described the "Delire des Negations" now known as Cotard's syndrome, characterised by the belief that either the sufferer himself, parts of his body or the world itself have died or no longer exist (Holper et al, 2012). Such delusions typically occur on a background of severe depression and/or psychosis. Cotard's syndrome has also been associated with a range of neurological conditions and previous structural imaging and single-photon emission computed tomography studies have pointed to "an important role for fronto-temporo-parietal circuitry in the pathophysiology of the syndrome" (Debruyne et al., 2011).