After discussing thoughts for a study design on visual hallucinations and their connection to perioperative delirium with Prof. René M Müri over coffee- a very pleasant & stimulating conversation with the head of Berne’s university’s division of cognitive and restorative neurology- I realised that I was entirely unaware of a taxonomy of visual hallucinations that goes way beyond the “deprivation-hallucination-scheme” I had in my mind molded on my feeble understanding of “Charles-Bonnet-Syndrom”.
Professor Müri is very interested in VH and pointed out the monography by Collerton and Mosimann to me. After a long wait I received it several days ago and with great interest immersed myself in Professor Müri’s chapter “Thalamic and brainstem regulatory systems-why disturbances external to the visual system can cause hallucinations”. If you’re interested in the potential connection of visual hallucinations and potential peri-narcotic mishaps, this is gonna be just your cup of tea- it certainly was mine!!! Apart from citing De MOrsiers ideas that where referred to in one of ffythce’s article we posted some months ago the neurological fiunctional relais-like the raphe nuclei, the pedunculopontine tegmental nuclei, the dorsolateral geniculate nucleus etc to name but a few are not unknown functional hubs to anybody who reads a little on the neuroscience of sleep-regulation and the shared neurobiological pathways for slepp and anesthesia.This of course does not prove anything but only kindles my interest in these shared pathways all the more!
The book starts out by a masterful tour-d’horizon over literature on VH by Dominic ffytche, wich makes for highly interesting reading.
The titles of other chapters are equally promising for example “Non-pathological associations-sleep and dreams, deprivation and bereavement by Armando d’Agostino or “The clinical associations of visual hallucinations” by Marco Onofri.
Will keep you posted!
