Pathological laughing and posterior fossa tumours
Bouvier, A.; Chevalier, J.F.; Brion, S.
L'Encephale 7(1): 83-94
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0013-7006 PMID: 7227287 Document Number: 173049
Posterior fossa tumors give rise, sometimes, to psychiatric disturbances which are difficult to diagnose when they are isolated without any neurological signs. This occurred in a 32-yr-old man with trigeminal neurinoma who had a pathological laugh as a unique symptom, for 4 mo. Spasmodic laughs related to posterior fossa tumors are infrequently reported in the literature. They always are the sign of a pseudo-bulbar syndrome, due to a bilateral lesion of the cortico-bulbar tracts. Other involuntary laughs are encountered in 3rd ventricle lesions, in frontal lobe lesions and in epilepsia.