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Kleptomania in a patient with a right frontolimbic lesion
1Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern, Switzerland.
Objective:
The authors report the case of a patient in whom kleptomania developed in the course of a right frontolimbic behavior syndrome after undergoing surgery.
Background:
Kleptomania is a behavior abnormality that is classified as an impulse-control disorder; however, little is known about its organic correlates.
Method:
History included neurologic data, neuropsychological data, electroencephalographic data, and magnetic resonance images.
Results:
Observation of kleptomania associated with a large sellar craniopharyngioma with right-sided extension suggests that the site of a lesion may be crucial for the development of an impulse-control disorder.
Conclusions:
The authors discuss kleptomania in the context of functional deficits associated with damage to orbitofrontal-subcortical circuits, and they suggest that kleptomania is a neuropsychiatric symptom that can be conceptualized as being an uncommon compulsive display of impulse dyscontrol.