Weak electromagnetic fields reverse visuospatial hemi-inattention in Parkinson's disease.

Drawing tasks, both free and copied, have achieved a central position in neuropsychological testing of patients with unilateral cerebral dysfunction by virtue of their sensitivity to different kinds of organic brain disorders and their ability to provide information on lateralized brain damage. In the drawings of patients with right hemispheric damage, visuospatial neglect is revealed by the omission of details on the side of the drawing contralateral to the hemispheric lesion. Patients with unilateral cerebral damage, particularly those with left hemispheric damage, also demonstrate a tendency to place their drawings on the side of the page ipsilateral to the cerebral lesion, a phenomenon which has been termed visuospatial hemi-inattention. It has been reported previously that brief external application of alternating pulsed electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in the picotesla (pT) range intensity improved visuoperceptive and visuospatial functions and reversed neglect in Parkinsonian patients. The present communication concerns four fully medicated elderly nondemented Parkinsonian patients (mean age: 74.7 +/- 4.6 yrs; mean duration of illness: 7.7 +/- 5.2 yrs) in whom application of these EMFs produced reversal of visuospatial hemi-inattention related to left hemispheric dysfunction. These findings support prior observations demonstrating that pT EMFs may bring about reversal of certain cognitive deficits in Parkinsonian patients.