The topography of hemispatial neglect, brain-behaviour correlations with CT and SPECT imaging in stroke

grantor: University of TorontoHemispatial neglect, characterized as failure to attend to contralesional space, is hypothesized to result from damage to a network for directed attention which involves the frontal, parietal, and cingulate cortices, and the basal ganglia and thalamus. This study identified the neural correlates of hemispatial neglect in 75 LHD and 120 RHD acute stroke patients using structural (CT) and functional (SPECT) imaging. Multiple Linear Regression and Partial Least Squares were used to identify the brain regions that predicted performance on the Sunnybrook Neglect Battery. In LHD patients, the significant regions were the cingulate, frontal, parietal, lateral occipital, and temporal regions. In RHD patients, the significant regions were the cingulate, parietal, lateral occipital, and parietotemporal regions. Overall, the parietal region emerged as the powerful predictor of neglect behaviour. A qualitative difference emerged between the hemispheres on further inspection of neglect subtest and brain region correlations. The study shows the value of complementary structural and functional imaging techniques and neuropsychological tests of behaviour in elucidating brain-behaviour relationships.M.Sc