Introduction
Visual perceptual deficits have been induced after brain injury in the right cerebral hemisphere. We investigated the relationship between the microstructure change or lateralization of the SLF (Superior longitudinal fasciculus) using DTI (Diffusion Tensor Image) and visual perception in patients with stroke in the right hemisphere.
Methods
Eight patients with stroke (Intracranial hemorrhage: five patients, Infarction: three patients; mean age 52.5 years; one female) and sixteen mean age-matched healthy control subjects were involved in this study. Patients assessed visual perception using MVPT (motor-free visual perception test), and we reconstructed the SLF of all patients using DTI (Table 1).
Results
Table 1 lists the demography of eight-patients following a stroke in the right hemisphere (five patients: hemorrhage, three patients: infarction). Patients 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 showed injury of both dorsal and ventral pathways of the right SLF. Patients 1 and 3 represented injury of the ventral pathway of the SLF, and the SLF of patient 5 revealed injury of the dorsal pathway (Fig.1). In most patients, FA, TV, and MD values of the right SLF revealed a significant difference compared with control group in subacute stroke patients following brain damage in the right hemisphere. They showed positive LIs. This indicated the left hemisphere lateralization after stroke (Table 2.1).While processing time was not associated with a microstructural change of the right SLF, the right SLF represented a strongly positive significant relationship with raw score and left response. The lateralization of the SLF after a stoke was not correlated with a raw score, processing time, and left response (Table 2.2).
Discussion
We suggested that visual perception was affected by the microstructural change of the right SLF after stroke regardless of lateralization. Additionally, DTI is useful for lateralization and microstructural change after stroke.
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