On stroke
Q:What is Balint syndrome?
Answer: Balint syndrome is a triad of
- visual simultanagnosia,
- optic ataxia, and
- apraxia of gaze
Visual simultanagnosia: implies an inability to examine a scene and integrate its parts into a cohesive interpretation. A patient can identify specific parts of a scene but cannot describe the entire picture.
Optic ataxia: implies a loss of hand-eye coordination such that reaching or performing a motor task under visual guidance is clumsy and uncoordinated.
Apraxia of gaze: is a misnomer describing a supranuclear deficit in the ability to initiate a saccade on command.
This may occur with bilateral parieto-occipital infarction, most often in the watershed between the PCA and MCA territories.
