psychogenic abrupt asystole during spinal anesthesia is an uncommon occurence. a case is presented with literature review.

INTRODUCTION In some patients with recurrent syncope, the etiology may remain unclear despite extensive evaluation. These patients may sometimes be labeled as having a "psychogenic" cause for their syncope. METHODS We report on three patients with recurrent unexplained syncope (despite extensive evaluation) who were labeled as having a psychogenic cause for their events. In each patient follo...

BACKGROUND Psychogenic tremor is the most common psychogenic movement disorder. It has characteristic clinical features that can help distinguish it from other tremor disorders. There is no diagnostic gold standard and the diagnosis is based primarily on clinical history and examination. Despite proposed diagnostic criteria, the diagnosis of psychogenic tremor can be challenging. While there ar...

1 Eichna LW, Horvath SM, Bean WB. Cardiac asystole in a normal young man following physical effort. Am Heart J 1947; 33:254-62 2 Schlesinger I. Life-threatening 'vagal reaction' to physical fittness test [letter]. JAMA 1973; 226:1119 3 Fleg JL, Asante AV. Asystole following treadmill exercise in a man without organic heart disease. Arch Intern Med 1983; 143:1821-22 4 Huycke EC, Card HG, Sobol S...

The facial phenotype of psychogenic movement disorders has not been fully characterized. Seven tertiary-referral movement disorders centers using a standardized data collection on a computerized database performed a retrospective chart review of psychogenic movement disorders involving the face. Patients with organic forms of facial dystonia or any medical or neurological disorder known to affe...

Of 842 consecutive patients with movement disorders seen over a 71 month period, 28 (3.3%) were diagnosed as having a documented or clinically established psychogenic movement disorder. Tremor was most common (50%) followed by dystonia, myoclonus, and parkinsonism. Clinical descriptions of various types are reviewed. Clinical characteristics common in these patients included distractability (86...

OBJECTIVE To review the clinical characteristics and associated features found in patients with psychogenic dystonia. METHODS A 10 year retrospective chart review of all patients diagnosed by the author as having psychogenic dystonia. RESULTS Eighteen patients fulfilled diagnostic criteria for "Documented" or "Clinically Established" psychogenic dystonia. Clinical characteristics of the dys...

INTRODUCTION Psychogenic disorders, also referred to as somatoform, conversion, somatization, hysteria, and medically unexplained symptoms, are among the most challenging disorders to diagnose and treat. Psychogenic movement disorders are increasingly encountered in specialized clinics, and represent approximately 15% of all patients evaluated in the Baylor College of Medicine Movement Disorder...

To the Editor: Oaklander's report 1 of a patient with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) in addition to a movement disorder is an excellent example of the value of videotape publications. The patient is described as having progressive right lower extremity dystonia and tremor in the contralateral foot. That the movements began abruptly after vein stripping is stated as evidence that neither ...

Functional amnesia, also known as dissociative psychogenic or mnestic block syndrome, is a rare disorder which, although clinically heterogeneous, most often characterised by dense retrograde amnesia mainly affecting the episodic-autobiographical domain but with relative preservation of anterograde memory function, pattern dissimilar to that seen in other amnesic disorders. The pathogenesis fun...