Visual half-field testing for defining cerebral hemisphere speech laterality.

J Säisä; H Silfvenius; S A Christianson

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0404.1990.tb03314.x

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Visual half-field testing for defining cerebral hemisphere speech laterality.

J Säisä·H Silfvenius·S A Christianson

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent the noninvasive visual half-field (VHF) test can reliably determine cerebral speech dominance for the individual patient with partial epilepsy considered for surgical treatment. The present VHF test consisted of a list of 36 words presented correctly and mirrored in the lateral visual fields to 13 right-handed and 14 left-handed control subjects and to 14 right-handed and 2 left-handed patients with partial epilepsy. In the controls, it was found that all right-handed and 10 out of 14 left-handed control subjects showed a right VHF (i.e., left hemisphere) advantage. Three of the left-handed control subjects showed the opposite pattern, and one showed no visual field advantage. All of the right-handed patients showed a right VHF advantage, except one who showed no VHF advantage. The two left-handed patients had both a left VHF advantage. Intracarotid amytal speech testing documented left hemisphere speech dominance in all right-handed patients. Of the two left-handed patients, one had right-sided, the other bilateral speech representation. The results suggest that the present VHF test reliably predicts cerebral hemisphere speech in patients with epilepsy.

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Adolescent Adult Amobarbital Dominance, Cerebral Epilepsies, Partial Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe Female Humans Male Middle Aged Neurologic Examination Speech Visual Fields Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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J Säisä, H Silfvenius, S A Christianson. 1990. Visual half-field testing for defining cerebral hemisphere speech laterality.. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0404.1990.tb03314.x

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