Tactile hallucination and delusion associated with broad brain infarction in the right middle cerebral artery territory: a case report

Abstract

A 64-year-old woman experienced a broad brain infarction in the right middle cerebral artery territory with left hemiparesis and left unilateral spatial neglect. She was treated by endovascular thrombectomy and decompressive craniectomy. During the subacute phase of the brain infarction, she became alert and insisted, “My eldest daughter is at my feet and I can touch her body with my feet.” The patient’s abnormal experience was accompanied by visual information, such as her daughter’s physical characteristics and clothing, which could not be directly confirmed, and a false ideation that she had two eldest daughters. Although the patient was aware that her experience was abnormal, she was unable to deny her strong beliefs regarding the experience. We concluded that a series of the patient’s abnormal experiences consisted of both tactile hallucinations and delusions. In this case, the subjects of the delusions associated with the patient’s tactile hallucinations were limited to close relatives. Finally, it was clinically important that introspection by the patient revealed details of the nature of her hallucinations.