videos/pictures 1

HOW SIMULTANAGNOSIA MANIFESTS ITSELF IN NUCOG ASSESSMENT. 

Contributed by 

Siti Nor Fadhlina binti Misron

61-year-old male with 2 years progressive history of memory impairment, and aphasia. Frequently having difficulty to find things that is situated within his visual field.

The image taken (Figure 1) was a part of  Neuropsychiatry Unit Cognitive Assessment (NUCOG) assessment.

A rare neurological condition involving visual perception. A person is unable to process accurately the visual input and thus struggle to understand what the eyes see. The problem lies with the brain processing the visual input rather than the eyes itself.

Symptoms: 

The person is struggling to comprehend what the eyes see. Just like the patient discussed above, he has difficulty to locate an item when it is surrounded by other items within the same visual field. Example he can identify a tree when it is standing by it's own but not when the tree is part a forest.

Simultanagnosia can be considered as Balint's syndrome if coexist as a triad with optic ataxia and oculomotor apraxia.

Causes:

Any condition causing damage to bilateral posterior parietal lobes. E.g.,

1. Stroke
2. Traumatic brain injury
3. Tumor
4. Neurodegenerative diseases that affect these areas of the brain e.g Alzheimer's disease

Caution:

May be mistaken as eyesight problem. It is not uncommon for patient to have visited ophthalmologist or change their spectacles repeatedly before identified as simultanagnosia.

This youtube video demonstrates what a patient with posterior cortical atrophy see. Experience what they unfortunatley experienced by click on this link   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4eTGmejkRM