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Original Research ARTICLE

Perfusion imaging of the right perisylvian neural network in acute spatial neglect

Regine Zopf¹*, Monika Fruhmann Berger¹, Uwe Klose² and Hans-Otto Karnath¹

Section of Neuropsychology, Center of Neurology, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

Recent studies have suggested a tightly connected perisylvian neural network associated with spatial neglect. Here we investigated whether structural damage in one part of the network typically is accompanied with functional damage in other, structurally intact areas of this network. By combining normalized fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) we asked whether or not lesions centering on fronto-temporal regions co-occur with abnormal perfusion in structurally intact parietal cortex. With thresholds applied to delineate behaviourally relevant malperfusion of brain tissue, the analysis of normalized time-to-peak (TTP) and maximal signal reduction (MSR) perfusion maps did not reveal significant changes outside the area of structural damage. In particular, we found no abnormal perfusion in the structurally intact inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and/or the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). The present results obtained in three consecutively admitted neglect patients with fronto-temporal lesions indicate that structural damage in one part of the right perisylvian network associated with spatial neglect does not necessarily require dysfunction by malperfusion in other, structurally intact parts of the network to provoke spatial neglect. The neural tissue in the fronto-temporal cortex appears to have an original role in processes of spatial orienting and exploration.

Keywords:

spatial neglect, perfusion-weighted imaging, superior temporal cortex, parietal cortex, right perisylvian neural network, magnetic resonance imaging

Citation:

Zopf R, Fruhmann Berger M, Klose U and Karnath H-O (2009). Perfusion imaging of the right perisylvian neural network in acute spatial neglect. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 3:15. doi: 10.3389/neuro.09.015.2009

Received:

07 February 2009;

Paper pending published:

07 April 2009;

Accepted:

15 July 2009;

Published online:

03 August 2009.

Edited by:

Chris Rorden, University of South Carolina, USA

Reviewed by:

Jonathan Kleinman, Johns Hopkins, USA
Rik R. Vandenberghe, University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

© 2009 Zopf, Fruhmann Berger, Klose and Karnath. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

*Correspondence:

Regine Zopf, Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. e-mail: regine.zopf@maccs.mq.edu.au