BRAINSTEM HALLUCINATION

   A term suggested in 1991 by the American neurologist C. Miller Fisher (b. 1910) to replace the older term * peduncular hallucination. More specifically, Miller proposes to use the term brain-stem hallucination as an umbrella term for a category comprising the group of peduncular hallucinations and hallucinations attributed to CNS structures in the vicinity of the pedunculus cere-bri. Fisher motivates this proposal as follows. "Although peduncular hallucinations are a well recognized type it might be preferable to include them in a broader category - brain stem hallucinations that would encompass not only peduncular cases proper but also cases in which visual hallucinations are associated with pontine haemorrhage, thalamic haemorrhage, and thalamic infarction."

   References

   Fisher, C.M. (1991). Visual hallucinations on eye closure associated with atropine toxicity. A neurological analysis and comparison with other visual hallucinations. Canadian Journal ofNeurological Sciences, 18, 18-27.