Combined damage to the right hemispheric hand area in the primary motor and sensory area plays a critical role in motor hemineglect.

Direct evidence of the anatomical localization of brain function is provided by functional neurological changes during awake surgery combined with data from preoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging studies. The goal of the present study was to analyze the etiology and mechanism of motor hemineglect using these techniques. Of 29 patients with brain tumors within and near the primary motor area (M1) in whom awake surgery was employed from April 2004 through March 2007, 2 patients evinced motor hemineglect of the left hand during awake surgery. The brain tumors in these 2 cases alone were located just beside the hand area of M1 and the primary sensory area (S1) in the right hemisphere. In case 1, the U fibers that connected the areas activated by hand clenching in M1 with S1 were compressed by the brain tumor. These results suggest that the combination of damage to the right hemispheric hand area in M1 and S1 plays a critical role in the development of motor hemineglect. Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.