A unique presentation of occipital stroke – Charles bonnet syndrome

Abstract

Twenty percent of ischemic events in the brain involve the posterior circulation (vertebrobasilar) structures. Posterior cerebral artery stroke has interesting and varying presentations. We present to you a case of The Charles Bonnet syndrome, which refers to symptoms of visual hallucinations that occur in patients with visual acuity loss or visual field loss. While often not functionally disabling, the hallucinations can be distressing to patients and negatively impact quality of life. The underlying conditions of vision loss associated with the Charles Bonnet syndrome affect the eye, optic nerve, or brain and include a diverse set of pathologies, such as macular degeneration and stroke. This condition is often overlooked as it is self limiting and is often mistaken as psychosis, stroke and so on.