Kluver Bucy Syndrome: An Overview of the Clinical Interplay

Kluver Bucy Syndrome (KBS) was initially reported by Sanger Brown and Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer. In 1939, a bilateral temporal lobectomy was conducted on a Rhesus monkey named Aurora. Three weeks after this procedure, Aurora began to exhibit behavioral changes. These behavioral changes exhibited by Aurora were observed and recorded by Paul Clancy Bucy, a neurosurgeon, and Heinrich Kluver, a neuropsychiatrist; these behavioral changes were given the name Kluver-Bucy syndrome. The first human Kluver-Bucy case was diagnosed in 1955 in a 22-year-old male patient.

Kluver-Bucy syndrome (KBS) is a complex neuropsychiatric disease that usually occurs after bilateral damage to the medial temporal lobes. The syndrome is mainly seen in adults, male and female equally. However, although the syndrome can also be seen in children, the symptoms in children are slightly different from how the symptoms manifest in adults. There are a plethora of etiologies and manifestations of KBS, but it most commonly manifests as a triad of hypersexuality, hyperorality, and hyperphagia.

The diagnosis of KBS is primarily centered around the identification of damages to the medial lobe of the brain using signs and symptoms, imaging studies, and most importantly, Magnetic Resonant Imaging (MRI). It is also essential to rule out and confirm possible differentials and etiologies during the management of KBS. KBS has no known cure, but the various manifestations can be ameliorated with medications like antidepressants and antipsychotics. The prognosis is generally poor for KBS.