Supernumerary Phantom Limbs Associated with Left Hemispheric Stroke: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

SPL may occur among patients with left hemispheric stroke, especially those with lesions in the thalamus, spastic paresis on the right side immediately after stroke, and psychiatric disorders such as alcohol and tobacco intoxication.

The bodily self: Insights from clinical and experimental research

“…In the latter case, the term ''delusional reduplication of parts of the body'' has been applied [39]. Supernumerary phantom limbs have been scarcely reported in the literature [40][41][42], yet they display striking diversity in their manifestations. In most cases, the ''additional limb'' is a static somesthetic percept located separately, but on the same side, of a plegic limb.…”

Body Integrity Identity Disorder: Deranged Body Processing, Right Fronto-Parietal Dysfunction, and Phenomenological Experience of Body Incongruity

“…These range from a reduced to an exaggerated awareness of limbs, including: failure to update representations (e.g., the false belief that affected limbs are not paralysed in anosognosia for hemiplegia (Karnath et al 2005), or the perception of supernumerary phantom limbs (Brugger 2003;Curt et al 2011;Mazzoni et al 1997;Miyazawa et al 2004;Sakagami et al 2002)); attribution of body parts to others (e.g., somatoparaphrenia (Aglioti et al 1996;Halligan et al 1995;Vallar and Ronchi 2009)), or fake hands which may be attributed to the self in the rubber hand illusion paradigm (e.g., see (Botvinick and Cohen 1998;Tsakiris 2010)); and in some circumstances, remapping of body parts in sensory brain regions, which may be associated with feelings of discomfort and even pain (e.g., phantom pain and CRPS1 (Giummarra et al 2007;Moseley 2005)). Could alterations in body representation-perhaps due to a failure to update or maintain body representations following a central disruption to perceptual processes-cause the discomfort and feelings of nonbelonging that people with BIID have with respect to their own, usually left-sided lower limb First 2005)?…”

In Self-Defense: Disruptions in the Sense of Self, Lateralization, and Primitive Defenses

“…One might take this argument further, considering instances where only the bodily self appears abnormally changed, with no signs of confabulation, as is observed after left parietal lesions (Luria, 1972(Luria, , 1973 cf. cases of supernumerary phantom limbs after stroke- McGonogle et al, 2002;Miyazawa, Hayashi, Komiya, & Akiyama, 2004). Our final point is thus that Feinberg's emphasis seems to be centered on the delusional component, which seems likely to be merely a subgroup of the NPS, albeit containing the most extreme cases.…”