RUNNING TITLE
Pathological laughter in a patient with a pontine lesion
ABSTRACT
An 18-year-old man presented with the complaints of occasional headache
and limb weakness associated with slurring of speech and purposeless
laughing. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a diffuse altered signal
intensity area involving the pons with asymmetrical expansion. The
patient underwent surgical resection. Histology was suggestive of a WHO
grade IV glioblastoma. Pathological laughing in a patient with a pontine
lesion is a very rare presentation. Evidence for a mechanism of action
underpinning how pontine lesions can cause such behavioral changes
through the disruption of a network of cerebro-ponto-cerebellar pathways
is discussed.
Keywords: Pathological laughing, Pons, tumor