Visual perception in hemiplegic patients.

Visual perceptual disturbances have been identified as a complication associated with hemiplegic syndrome that can interfere with rehabilitation progress. In this study a test battery was developed to identify visual perceptual disturbances in stroke patients. Forty-six patients (mean age 49.9 years) were first categorized according to the severity and complexity of their various impairments. This classification revealed a previously unremarked high proportion of patients who had sensorimotor disorders of the nonparetic hand and arm. Patients were subsequently tested for visual perceptual disorders, which were detected in 25 of the 46 patients. No correlations were found between the presence of these disorders and the factors of age, time since cerebrovascular accident, aphasia, and severity of the syndrome. However, significant correlations (p less than 0.01) were revealed between visual perceptual scores and disturbances in function of the nonparetic hand. The nature of the tests used to identify visual perceptual problems meant that this relationship could not be attributed to motor deficits. Possible explanations linked visual and motor systems. Left-side paretic patients performed significantly worse than right-side patients on visual perception tests, which is in accordance with earlier studies. This result was interpreted in terms of hemispheric dominance for specific functions.