ABSTRACT
The long-term consequences of partial callosal lesions were examined in 7 neurosurgically treated patients. Detailed clinical and neuropsychological assessment of the interhemispheric transfer (multimodal sensory and motor tasks) as well as memory and attention tests were used. The results revealed some disconnection symptoms with minor clinical significance, which could not be attributed to particular sites of the corpus callosum, except the splenium. It is questionable whether the reported memory and attention impairments are caused by the callosal lesion or by extracallosal pathology. The results indicate that the transcallosal approach is a safe and feasible alternative in the management of pathological midline processes in the brain.
Subject(s)
Brain Damage, Chronic/diagnosis , Brain Diseases/surgery , Corpus Callosum/surgery , Neuropsychological Tests , Postoperative Complications/diagnosis , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Attention/physiology , Brain Damage, Chronic/physiopathology , Child , Corpus Callosum/physiopathology , Dominance, Cerebral/physiology , Female , Humans , Male , Mental Recall/physiology , Postoperative Complications/physiopathologyABSTRACT
Ten patients with partial callosal lesions were investigated with a broad scale neuropsychological assessment. Nine patients with a variety of lesions affecting midline structures have been operated using a direct transcallosal approach, one patient with a callosal lipoma remained unoperated. Sophisticated studies of the interhemispheric transfer of somaesthetic and perceptual motor tasks, as well as psychometric testing related to parameters of memory and attention performance were applied. The results indicate that there is no clear correlation between the site of callosal lesion and clinical symptoms. Although special disconnecting symptoms due to callosal dissection could be found, they didn't reach clinical significance. The most severe symptoms of impairment were caused by the extracallosal pathology. The results indicate that the transcallosal approach is a safe and feasible alternative in the management of pathological lesions in the midline region.
