Although spatial neglect is more severe in contralesional than ipsilesional hemispace in the period immediately following a stroke, over time patients with RHD may develop ipsilesional neglect that is more severe in ipsilesional than contralesional space. The mechanism underlying this bias is not known and may be related to attempted compensation or the development of a contralateral attentional/intentional grasp.
Spatial neglect and extinction are induced by posterior superior temporal and inferior parietal dysfunction. In patients with logopenic progressive aphasia (LPA) these structures are often degenerated, but there are no reports of these disorders being associated. A 53-year-old man with the signs of LPA revealed right-sided spatial neglect on line bisection and drawing tests as well as multimodal extinction. MRI showed left hemispheric posterior temporoparietal atrophy. Since injury to the core structures for these aphasic and attentional syndromes overlaps, patients with LPA should be screened for spatial neglect and extinction.
Patients with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) have been reported to have neglect in the egocentric/ body-centered reference frame. This report describes a woman with PCA who had a right-sided stimulus-based form of allocentric visual neglect on cancellation, reading, and drawing tests. Her brain imaging revealed left parietal atrophy. The pathophysiology of this disorder may be related to an impairment of the ventral "what" stream's ability to interact with the dorsal "where" stream that mediates the allocation of spatial attention, or a deficit in the systems that allocate contralateral focal attention. Further research is needed to better understand the mechanisms of this disorder and to optimally treat it.
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