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Query: UMLS:C0004134 (ataxia)
 15,886 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Two patients presenting with the acute onset of bilateral parietal lobe damage showed initially the features of Balint's syndrome. After most of its manifestations had cleared, both patients exhibited severe disorders of spatial orientation: acoustic ataxia, inability to localize objects in space. In addition, 1 patient showed a topographical disorientation and abnormalities of whole body movements. This patient came to post-mortem examination, which revealed bilateral and fairly symmetrical old and recent infarctions of the superior parietal lobules. In the light of these observations and previous reports, it is suggested that the reported abnormalities of whole body movements can be explained on the basis of a visuo-motor intrahemispheric disconnection due to the bilateral lesion of the dorsal parietal lobe. In addition, the global spatial disorientation is analysed and is thought to be the manifestation of a derangement of a specific function centered in the parietal lobe. Moreover, it is pointed out that topographic disorientation does not require the concomitant failure of oculomotor mechanisms for its production. The topography of the anatomical lesion is considered in relation to current concepts on brain damage after severe hypotension and cardiac arrest. It is concluded that this group of patients is most likely at risk of developing behavioural abnormalities akin to the ones here reported.
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PMID:Global spatial disorientation. Clinico-pathologic correlations. 92 13

A review of the literature shows that long-lasting neurological complications of eclampsia are rare, but that, when present, they frequently involve visual function. Two patients are reported, whose symptomatology suggested damage to the posterior region of both cerebral hemispheres. The first patient showed a Balint's syndrome with complete inability to perceive more than one object at a time, erratic gaze movements and optic ataxia. After a year and half a marked improvement was observed. The second patient presented with severe of dyscalculia, spatial memory disorders, constructional apraxia and mild aphasia. She recovered completely in one year. This symptomatology might result from ischemic lesions in the watershed area between the territories of the middle and posterior cerebral arteries, the underlying mechanism being the compression of the posterior cerebral artery against the tentorium, caused by edema.
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PMID:[Neuropsychological study of long-term cerebral complications of eclampsia (author's transl)]. 103 34

The three major components of the Balint's syndrome are described: 1) visual disorientation or simultanagnosia, i.e. the inability to perceive the visual field as a whole, 2) ocular apraxia, a deficit of visual scanning and 3) optic ataxia, an impairment of pointing and reaching under visual guidance. Our description of the syndrome is illustrated by three case histories. The complete syndrome is rare, and partial syndromes have been reported more frequently. Sudden and severe hypotension resulting in bilateral borderzone infarction in the occipito-parietal region is reported to be the most frequent cause of complete Balint's syndrome. Lack of awareness of the syndrome may lead to misdiagnosis such as blindness, psychosis, or dementia.
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PMID:[Balint's syndrome--visual disorientation]. 159 20

A 67-year-old man had repeated cerebral ischemic attacks, which resulted in a clinical picture combining paralysis of visual fixation, optic ataxia and impairment of visuospatial orientation, consistent with the definition of Balint's syndrome. Postmortem examination showed multiple lesions involving the occipital cortex of both sides and the white matter underlying the right insular cortex. EOG recording demonstrated a marked impairment of refixation saccades and saccades on verbal command. Smooth pursuit movements were completely abolished. Visual fixation was randomly achieved after many erratic exploratory movements and steadily maintained on the target (spasmodic fixation). During spasmodic fixation, EOG recording detected an ocular flicker resulting in a continuous instability of eye position. It is suggested that these findings may all be accounted for by the loss of panoramic vision due to a bilateral impairment of cortical areas 18 and 19.
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PMID:Oculomotor disturbances in Balint's syndrome: anatomoclinical findings and electrooculographic analysis in a case. 716 46

A 65-year-old white woman developed progressive visuospatial abnormalities over an eight-year course, secondary to Alzheimer's disease with amyloid angiopathy. Imaging studies demonstrated focal atrophy of the parietal and occipital lobes without hemorrhage. This patient manifested simultagnosia without ocular dysmetria or optic ataxia; hence, a true Balint's syndrome was not present. Her visual acuities and fields have remained stable status post-occipital lobe biopsy.
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PMID:The incredible shrinking brain. 772 31

Cortical blindness and Balint's syndrome are two pathologies not well-known. It seems therefore interesting to report a typical patient case, suffering from Benson's posterior cortical atrophy, who presented successively both syndromes. The Balint's syndrome, which results from a bilateral parieto-occipital junction brain injury, and combines clinically a specified triad defects: a spatial disorder of attention, a psychic paralysis of gaze and an optic ataxia. The cortical blindness, which is caused by bilateral damage of the occipital lobes (Broadman area 17). Electrophysiologically, the abolition of short-latency components of visual evoked potentials and the presence of long-latency potentials are recorded. Visual strategy and visual evoked potentials are thus the only objective examinations allowing to diagnose and follow up these patient's evolution. In any case, an adequate visual rehabilitation has to be carried out in order to help the patient recovering his autonomy.
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PMID:[Electrophysiologic diagnosis of 2 psycho-visual syndromes: Balint syndrome and cortical blindness. A propos of a case of Benson progressive posterior atrophy]. 1057 1

Corticobasal ganglionic degeneration (CBGD) is a neurodegenerative dementia characterized by asymmetric parkinsonism, ideomotor apraxia, myoclonus, dystonia, and the alien hand syndrome. This report describes a patient with CBGD who developed Balint's syndrome with simultanagnosia, oculomotor apraxia, and optic ataxia.
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PMID:Corticobasal ganglionic degeneration with Balint's syndrome. 1100 9

Lesions of extrastriate cortex cause selective defects in visual function. Damage to portions of the "ventral stream" in medial and inferior occipitotemporal cortex lead to impaired perception of color or various specific visual object recognition defects, such as prospagnosia, the inability to recognize familiar faces, and alexia, the inability to read. The latter must be distinguished from a variety of other reading defects related to primary visual, attentional, linguistic, or ocular motor impairments. Damage to the "dorsal stream" in lateral occipito-temporo-parietal regions impairs visuospatial capabilities, leading to akinetopsia (impaired motion perception) or Balint's syndrome, a loosely bound triad of simultanagnosia, optic ataxia, and ocular motor apraxia. Topographagnosia can occur with ventral or dorsoal lesions for different reasons. Considerable evidence has accumulated showing that residual vision or even "blindsight," which is visual perception in the absence of awareness, can persist after lesion of striate cortex in some patients.
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PMID:Deficits in cortical visual function. 1137 May 68

A 10-year-old male was referred with difficulties at school. He had particular difficulty with reading long words, following the sequence of text down a page, writing words in the correct order, writing words in line, and copying from the blackboard. He had a history of infective endocarditis complicated by intracerebral haemorrhage at the age of three years. Detailed history taking revealed symptoms typical of 'dorsal stream' pathology, namely a deficit of 'vision for action'. This included a spatial disorder of attention (simultanagnosia), defective hand and foot movements under visual control (optic ataxia), and acquired oculomotor apraxia which are consistent with Balint's syndrome. Strategies were suggested for coping with the symptoms and one year later a distinct improvement in adapting to the disability was found.
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PMID:Balint's syndrome in a 10-year-old male. 1272 50

We report a patient who presented with Balint's syndrome as a manifestation of primary central nervous system angiitis. Clinical findings included simultanagnosia, optic ataxia, and optic apraxia. Pathologic evaluation demonstrated amyloid angiopathy and Alzheimer's plaques. The presence of primary central nervous system angiitis along with amyloid angiopathy and Alzheimer's plaques may not be coincidental. Angiitis may be a foreign body reaction to A4 amyloid deposition.
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PMID:Primary central nervous system angiitis, amyloid angiopathy, and Alzheimer's pathology presenting with Balint's syndrome. 1523 2


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