Crossed right hemisphere syndrome following left thalamic stroke.
In most right-handed people, language and motor functions are more reliant on systems of the left hemisphere while several non-linguistic visuo-spatial and attentional processes depend more on the right hemisphere. The rare exceptions to these rules provide important clues as to what functions co-lateralise, and are thus crucial for models of cerebral specialization. Here we report on the case of a patient, who, after a lesion restricted to the left thalamic region, showed signs normally associated with right hemispheric injury including motor impersistence, visuo-spatial dysfunction and poor comprehension of facial expression. Language abilities were spared and no signs of apraxia were present, in spite of his right hand, foot and eye preference, a pattern normally associated with conventional cerebral dominance. In spite of his other right hemispheric signs, the patient showed no signs of hemi-spatial neglect. The patient's pattern of spared and impaired abilities is compared and contrasted with other rare cases of crossed right hemisphere syndrome.
Marchetti
Clelia
C
Department of Neurology Neuropsychology Unit, Salvatore Maugeri Foundation IRCCS Rehabilitation Institute of Veruno (NO), Italy.
Carey
David
D
Della Sala
Sergio
S
D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D012016:Reference Values; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods