Balint's syndrome

Balint's syndrome

Infobox_Disease
Name = PAGENAME


Caption =
DiseasesDB =
ICD10 =
ICD9 = ICD9|368.16
ICDO =
OMIM =
MedlinePlus =
eMedicineSubj =
eMedicineTopic =
MeshID =

Balint's syndrome, identified by the Austro-Hungarian neurologist Rezső Bálint in 1909, [WhoNamedIt|synd|1343] [R. Balint. Seelenlähmung des "Schauens", optische Ataxia, räumliche Störung der Aufmerksamkeit. Monatsschrift für Psychiatrie und Neurologie, 1909, 25: 51-81.] is a disjointed psychic paralysis of gaze with haphazard scanning. It is improperly characterized by "optic ataxia" (incoordination of hand and eye movement, those with Balint syndrome grasp for them as if blind), "optic apraxia" (the inability to voluntarily guide eye movements/ change to a new location of visual fixation). Due to cortical gaze paralysis, patients also have simultanagnosia (the inability to perceive more than one object at a time, even when in the same place). Balint's syndrome is the result of visual binding deficits.

Neuroanatomical evidence

Balint's syndrome has been found in patients with bilateral damage to the posterior parietal cortex. The primary cause of the damage and the syndrome can originate from multiple strokes, Alzheimer's disease, intracranial tumors, or brain injury. This syndrome is caused by damage to the posterior superior watershed areas aka the parietal-occipital vascular border zone (Brodmann's areas 19 and 7). Balint's syndrome has only recently been reported in children. [Gillen, J.A. and Dutton, G.N. (2003). Balint's syndrome in a 10-year-old male. "Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 45":349-32.] In children this syndrome results in a variety of occupational difficulties, but most notably difficulties in schoolwork, especially reading.

Treatment

Treatment for Balint's syndrome usually takes advantage of an adaptive functional approach, where the individual's strengths are utilized in order to address his or her difficulties.

References

* Damasio, A.R. "Disorders of complex visual processing: agnosia, achromatopsia, Balint's syndrome, and related difficulties of orientation and construction." In: M.M. Mesulam, Editor, Principles of Behavioral Neurology, Davis, Philadelphia (1985).

* M Rizzo, S P Vecera. (2002) Psychoanatomical substrates of Bálint's syndrome. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 72:162-178. Full article available free at http://jnnp.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/72/2/162


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Balint-Syndrom — Das Bálint Syndrom ist ein seltenes neurologisches Syndrom. Es beschreibt eine schwere räumliche Aufmerksamkeits und Orientierungsstörung [1] und besteht aus Optische Ataxie: Unfähigkeit zielgerichteter Hand bzw. Greif Bewegungen unter Kontrolle… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Bálint-Syndrom — Das Bálint Syndrom ist ein seltenes neurologisches Syndrom. Es beschreibt eine schwere räumliche Aufmerksamkeits und Orientierungsstörung [1] und besteht aus Optische Ataxie: Unfähigkeit zielgerichteter Hand bzw. Greif Bewegungen unter Kontrolle… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Syndrôme — Syndrome Pour les articles homonymes, voir syndrome (homonymie). Un syndrome est un ensemble de signes cliniques et de symptômes qu un patient est susceptible de présenter lors de certaines maladies, ou bien dans des circonstances cliniques d… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Syndrome — Pour les articles homonymes, voir syndrome (homonymie). Un syndrome est un ensemble de signes cliniques et de symptômes qu un patient est susceptible de présenter lors de certaines maladies, ou bien dans des circonstances cliniques d écart à la… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Balint syndrome — Bal·int syndrome (bah lēntґ) [Rezsoe Balint, Hungarian neurologist and psychiatrist, 1874–1929] see under syndrome …   Medical dictionary

  • syndrome — The aggregate of symptoms and signs associated with any morbid process, and constituting together the picture of the disease. SEE ALSO: disease. [G. s., a running together, tumultuous concourse; (in med.) a concurrence of symptoms, fr. syn,… …   Medical dictionary

  • Balint — Rudolph, Hungarian neurologist and psychiatrist, 1874–1930. See B. syndrome …   Medical dictionary

  • Medial medullary syndrome — Classification and external resources Medulla oblongata, shown by a transverse section passing through the middle of the olive. (Medial medullary syndrome can affect structures in lower left: especially #5, #6, #8.) ICD …   Wikipedia

  • Parinaud's syndrome — Not to be confused with Parinaud s oculoglandular syndrome. Parinaud s syndrome Classification and external resources ICD 10 G …   Wikipedia

  • One and a half syndrome — Schematic representation of most common extra ocular movement abnormality in one and a half syndrome. The one and a half syndrome is a rare ophthalmoparetic syndrome characterized by a conjugate horizontal gaze palsy in one direction and an… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”