Asomatognosia

Asomatognosia

Asomatognosia is a lack of regard for a part, or parts, of the body, most typically failure to acknowledge the existence of a hemiplegic left arm. Asomatognosia may be verbal (denial of limb ownership) or nonverbal (failure to dress or wash limb). All patients with asomatognosia have hemispatial neglect (usually left), hence this would seem to be a precondition for the development of asomatognosia; indeed, for some authorities asomatognosia is synonymous with personal neglect. Attribution of the neglected limb to another person is known as somatoparaphrenia.
The anatomical correlate of asomatognosia is damage to the right supramarginal gyrus and posterior corona radiata, most commonly due to a cerebrovascular event. Cases with right thalamic lesions have also been reported. The predilection of asomatognosia for the left side of the body may simply be a reflection of the aphasic problems associated with left-sided lesions that might be expected to produce asomatognosia for the right side. Asomatognosia is related to anosognosia (unawareness or denial of illness) but the two are dissociable on clinical and experimental grounds. Some authorities consider asomatognosia as a form of confabulation.

References

Feinberg TE, Haber LD, Leeds NE. Verbal asomatognosia. Neurology
1990; 40: 1391-1394

Cross References

Anosognosia; Confabulation; Neglect; Somatoparaphrenia