Lateral asymmetry of eye movements in temporal lobe epileptic patients with unilateral foci.
Eye movements in response to visual stimuli (Benton Visual Retention Test) were examined in 22 temporal lobe epileptics (TLEs), 10 primary generalized epileptics (PGEs), and 20 normal controls. In the normal controls, the percent fixation time on the left peripheral figure was higher than that on the right peripheral figure, a tendency also found in the PGEs. In TLEs with right-sided foci, the percent fixation time on the left peripheral figure was higher than that on the right peripheral figure, the direction of asymmetry found in the normal controls and PGEs. However, when calculated as laterality indices (the degree of asymmetry) TLEs with right-sided foci were significantly more negative than those of both the normal controls and PGEs. In TLEs with left sided foci, the percent fixation time on the right peripheral figure tended to be higher than that on the left peripheral figure, an asymmetry which differed significantly from the normal controls, PGEs and the TLEs with right-sided foci. The results here showed that TLEs with unilateral foci had distinct eye movements which varied with the laterality of the lesion in the direction of functional overactivation of the epileptogenic hemisphere.
Sonobe
N
N
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Fukushima Medical College, Japan.
Kanno
M
M
Ito
M
M
Uchiyama
M
M
Takahashi
Y
Y
Yashima
Y
Y
Kumashiro
H
H
D004829:Epilepsy, Generalized / Q000503:physiopathology; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D010775:Photic Stimulation