Callosal neglect in hydrocephalus

Abstract

A functional disconnection of the corpus callosum (CC) can induce a form of spatial neglect where each hand (e.g., left) when attempting to bisect lines in the opposite (e.g., right) hemispace deviates toward its own (e.g., left) hemispace. Patients with hydrocephalus often show thinning of the CC but callosal neglect has not been reported in this condition. Two right-handed patients with hydrocephalus and thinning of the CC, as well as six matched controls, were assessed for neglect by performing the line bisection task in left, right and center space with their right and left hands. When compared to controls neither patient, using either their right or left hands, demonstrated a bias in the center or left space conditions, but with lines in right space both subjects' left hand deviated significantly to the left. Thus, patients with hydrocephalic interhemispheric functional disconnection might show a form of callosal neglect. This hemispatial-hand asymmetry of deviation, however, also might be related to the disinhibition of the attentionally dominant right hemisphere.