PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - S E Nadeau
AU  - B Crosson
AU  - R L Schwartz
AU  - K M Heilman
TI  - Gaze related enhancement of hemispheric blood flow in a stroke patient.
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.62.5.538
DP  - 1997 May 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
PG  - 538--540
VI  - 62
IP  - 5
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/62/5/538.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/62/5/538.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry1997 May 01; 62
AB  - OBJECTIVE: A patient with a right posterior cerebral artery territory infarction and a left superior quadrantanopia exhibited improvement on various visual tasks including Goldmann perimetry during extreme right gaze. The phenomenon was investigated by functional imaging of cerebral blood flow. METHODS: [(99m)Tc]HMPAO SPECT was carried out while the patient gazed to the right and to the left at an 8 Hz flash stimulus. RESULTS: When compared with left gaze, photic stimulation during right gaze was associated with an up to 39.8% increase in regional cerebral blood flow in the damaged right hemisphere, including Brodmann's areas 3-1-2, 7, 21, 22, 39, and 40. CONCLUSIONS: These gaze related alterations in function and synaptic activity suggest the engagement of a novel arousal-like mechanism that may account in part for comparable findings in patients with neglect and other disorders, and may have relevance to rehabilitation.