title: Selective visual neglect in right brain damaged patients with splenial interhemispheric disconnection.
abstract: Left unilateral neglect is frequently reported after right hemispheric lesions of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) damaging the parietal-frontal cortical-subcortical network subserving space representation and awareness. However, accumulating evidence shows that neglect can also follow lesions of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA) that do not directly affect this parietal-frontal network. Surgical studies in the monkeys have demonstrated that complete callosal resection combined with lesion of the right optic tract entirely deprives the right hemisphere of visual inputs from the left hemispace provoking severe left unilateral neglect. Here, through the detailed study of two patients we show, for the first time, that PCA lesions selectively affecting the splenium of the corpus callosum and the adjacent right primary visual cortex provoke severe neglect selectively restricted to the visual domain. No trace of personal, motor or representational-imagery neglect was found. Also at variance with previous case studies in which neglect followed lesion of the trunk or the genu of the corpus callosum, no restriction of neglect to tasks performed with the right hand, no left hemispatial limb akinesia, no tactile extinction for the left hand and no tactile anomia for stimuli explored with the left hand were observed. These findings demonstrate that brain lesions depriving intact parietal and frontal attentional areas from specific sensory inputs can yield spatial neglect limited to specific sensory modalities or sectors of space.
authors.affiliation: Unità Cerebrolesioni Acquisite, Auxilium Vitae Volterra, Spa, Borgo San Lazzero 5, Volterra, Pisa, Italy. f.tomaiuolo@riabilitazione-volterra.it
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tomaiuolo
authors.forename: Loredana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Voci
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bresci
authors.forename: Sabino
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cozza
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Posteraro
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oliva
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Doricchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000473:pathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*