ANATOMICAL AND NEUROLOGICAL CORRELATES OF ACUTE AND CHRONIC VISUOSPATIAL NEGLECT FOLLOWING RIGHT-HEMISPHERE STROKE

Anatomical and neurological correlates of visuospatial neglect were st udied in 53 patients with a CT-documented right hemisphere stroke. Evi dence of neglect at the acute stage poststroke was strongly related to large lesions involving the middle temporal gyrus and/or the temporo- parietal paraventricular white matter. Thus, out of 18 patients with e vidence of visuospatial neglect at the acute stage, 12 showed a lesion in the middle temporal gyrus and/or the deep temporo-parietal white m atter. Among the 35 patients that failed to show visuospatial neglect, only one patient had a lesion within these areas. Comparing those pat ients who recovered from neglect with those that did not, a high corre lation was found between persisting neglect and a lesion involving the paraventricular white matter in the temporal lobe. On the basis of ab ove findings, it was suggested that a simultaneous damage to the corti co-thalamic system for regulation of arousal and to the neural systems mediating visual orienting, is likely to be followed by persisting ne glect symptoms.