Subcortical neglect as a consequence of a remote parieto-temporal dysfunction. A quantitative EEG study.

In patients with a right-sided deep-seated lesion, a causal relationship between a cortical dysfunction in the right temporo-parietal region and the occurrence of neglect has been suggested. In the present study we tried to correlate clinical and quantitative EEG data from a sample of 33 right stroke patients divided into two subgroups according to the presence or absence of neglect. A 20-channel EEG cartography system was used for EEG mapping. Delta and theta activities were calculated in sixteen regions of interest. The analysis of raw values stressed the importance of the right parieto-temporal cortex to discriminate between the two subgroups of patients. These results suggest that in patients with right subcortical damage, a remote cortical parieto-temporal dysfunction within an intra-hemispheric network is necessary to provoke neglect.