[Evoked potentials and regional cerebral blood flow changes in conversion disorder: a case report and review]

Conversion disorder is defined as the presence of functional impairment in motor, sensory or neurovegetative systems which cannot be explained by a general medical condition. Although the diagnostic systems emphasize the absence of an organic basis for the dysfunction in conversion disorder, there has been a growing interest in the specific functional brain correlates of conversion symptoms in recent years, particularly by examining neuroimaging and neurophysiological measures. In this case report, regional cerebral blood flow changes and evoked potentials of a patient with conversion symptoms are presented. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) of this patient with conversion disorder who had signs of movement disorder revealed that the latency to N20, P 25 waves were in normal limits while the amplitudes of the P25 and N33 components were extremely high (giant SEP). Regional cerebral blood flow assessment revealed hypoperfusion in the left parietal and temporal lobes of the brain. Three months after the first assessment, the control scans showed that the left parietal hypoperfusion disappeared while the left temporal hypoperfusion was still present. The following SEP evaluations which were repeated twice in three months intervals after the initial recordings, showed the persistence of the abnormalities in somatosensorial measures. The neurophysiological and neuroimaging findings in conversion disorder were reviewed and the results of the evaluations of this case were discussed in this article.