Defective spatial imagery with pure Gerstmann's syndrome.

Gerstmann's syndrome comprises finger agnosia, peripheral agraphia, anarithmetia, and right-left confusion. We here report a single-case study of an 85-year-old ambidextrous man who exhibited pure Gerstmann's syndrome (i.e., without aphasia) 10 weeks after a stroke involving the angular gyrus in the left parietal lobe. We hypothesize that, in this case, the main cognitive denominator of Gerstmann's tetrad was a severe dysfunction in mental rotation and translation. This report provides further evidence for the spatial nature of Gerstmann's syndrome. Copyright 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel