Crossed face apraxia

Apraxia refers to the disorder of movement planning and execution that cannot be accounted for by motor or sensory deficits nor by other cognitive impairments. The term apraxia encompasses several different deficits, including “face apraxia”, which defines the impairment of movements performed within the district of the cranial nerves. Group studies have shown that face apraxia results from lesions of the left hemisphere.1 However, a few cases can be gleaned from the literature of patients whose face apraxia followed lesions in their right hemisphere and was mentioned in fleeting comments.2-4

Face apraxia has generally been equated to oral apraxia and tests aimed at assessing it only comprise items exploring skilled movements of the lips, cheeks, and tongue. However, several early authors reported on patients with face apraxia also showing movement deficits of the eyes and eyebrows.5 Some anecdotal evidence of upper face apraxia is also reported in more recent investigations.6We report on a patient, who, …