Klüver-Bucy Syndrome

Original Editor - Kehinde Fatola
Top Contributors - Kehinde Fatola, Rucha Gadgil and Cindy John-Chu

Introduction[edit | edit source]

Klüver-Bucy Syndrome (KBS) is a dysfunction arising from lesions of bilateral medial temporal lobes, including nucleus of the amygdala.[1] Though, it is a neurologic dysfunction, it may also be classified under “psychiatry”. It was first recorded among individuals who had undergone temporal lobectomy in 1955.

The investigation leading to the discovery was carried out by Heinrich Klüver and Paul Bucy, a neurosurgeon on a number of rhesus monkeys in the 1930s.[2]

Clinical Presentation[edit | edit source]

Clinical presentations are not agreed upon and vary in literature according to source. Generally, it includes the following;[3][4][5]

  • Amnesia; this is essentially inability to recall past experiences (memories) which may be anterograde – inability to recall events from the period of the amnesic episode, or retrograde – loss of memory from the period before the amnesic episode.
  • Tameness; also termed “placidity” or “docility”, it is characterized by showing reduced ‘flight or fight’ response.
  • Hyperphagia and dietary changes; this can present as pica (eating inappropriate objects) and/or overeating
  • Hyperorality; “oral tendency or compulsion to examine objects by mouth”
  • Hypersexuality; manifested as a heightened sex drive and propensity to seek sexual stimulation from unusual and inappropriate objects.
  • Visual agnosia; inability to identify familial items and people.


Some presentations which are found to be inconsistent include;

  • Hypermetamorphorsis; “an irresistible impulse to notice and react to everything in sight”
  • Diminished or lack of emotional response

Diagnostic Procedures[edit | edit source]

It is uncommon for patients to manifest all symptoms, three or more of which is essential for diagnosis. The commonest symptoms in humans include tameness, hyperorality and dietary changes.[3]

Predisposing Conditions[edit | edit source]

Conditions which predisposes an individual to the diagnosis of KBS include;[3][6]

Management / Interventions
[edit | edit source]

Studies have shown pharmacotherapy as an effective way of combating KBS with literature on physiotherapy intervention and management very sparse. Pharmacological interventions have been known to include treatment with;[7]

  • Carbamezine
  • Valproate
  • Topiramate
  • Quetiapine,
  • Propranolol
  • Benztropine
  • Haloperidol
  • Trazodone
  • Sertraline
  • Olanzapine
  • Lorazepam
  • Valproic acid
  • Thiothixene
  • Bromocriptine

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Adel K. Afifi; Ronald A. Bergman; Ronald Arly Bergman (1998). Functional Neuroanatomy. McGraw-Hill. The Kluver-Bucy syndrome is a clinical syndrome observed in humans and other animals after bilateral lesions in the temporal lobe that involve the amygdala, hippocampal formation, and adjacent neural structures.
  2. 1.      Klüver H, Bucy P. Preliminary analysis of functions of the temporal lobes in monkeys. Arch Neurol Psychiatry. 1939; 42:979-1000
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 1.      Salloway, Stephen; Paul Malloy; Jeffrey L. Cummings (1997). The Neuropsychiatry of Limbic and Subcortical Disorders. American Psychiatric Pub. p. 125. ISBN 0-88048-942-1.
  4. 1.      Ozawa, Hiroshi; Masayuki Sasaki; Kenji Sugai; Toshiaki Hashimoto; Hiroshi Matsuda; Sachio Takashima; Akira Uno; Takashi Okawa (1997). "Single-Photon Emission CT and MR Findings in Klüver-Bucy" (PDF). American journal of neuroradiology (Oak Brook, IL,: American Society of Neuroradiology) 18 (3): 540–542. ISSN 0195-6108. PMID 9090419
  5. 1.      Afifi, Adel K.; Ronald Arly Bergman (2005). Functional Neuroanatomy: Text and Atlas. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 299. ISBN 0-07-140812-6.
  6. 1.      Tancredi, Laurence R. (2005). Hardwired Behavior: What Neuroscience Reveals about Morality. Cambridge University Press. pp. 98–99. ISBN 0-521-86001-6.
  7. 1.      Clay FJ, Kiriakose A, Lesche D, Hicks AJ, zaman H, Azizi E, Ponsford JL, Jayaram M. Hopwood M. Klüver-Bucy Syndrome following Traumatic Brain Injury: a systematic synthesis and review of pharmacological treatment from case in adolescent and adult. Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences. 2019:31:1, 6-16