Mutismo Acinetico: revision, propuesta de un protocolo neuropsicologico para el diagnostico diferencial y su aplicacion a un caso.

Abstract

Akinetic mutism is considered as a disturbance of a persons motivational state, therefore the patient is unable to initiate verbal or motor responses, although they continue to maintain sensorimotor and vigilant functions. The lesion can be vascular or it can be caused by infections, cerebral degeneration and toxicity. Lesions can influence the functions of two cerebral circuits: the Frontal medial cortex affecting to cingulated cortex, or it can damage the thalamic and mesencephalic regions related to the ascending reticular activating system.

It is difficult to diagnose Akinetic Mutism since it can be confused with some types of aphasia and altered states of consciousness, which require different interventions. In order to complete a clinical protocol we recommend a brief neuropsychological evaluation of functions such as attention, praxis and language, all of which could be affected by the syndromes previously named. We expound a case of akinetic mutism evaluated with this protocol in order to show its specificity distinguishing akinetic mustism from other syndromes. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]