The Half Man

During my elementary years my grandfather suffered a massive ischemic stroke affecting the right hemisphere of his brain. The stroke had various health implications and one of them was hemispatial neglect. Also known as Hemineglect, left-neglect, one-side neglect, or spatial neglect, this disorder is bizarre and perplexing and is common amongst stroke survivors. Those affected with this condition fail to perceive one side of their body or space. Most patients suffer with left-neglect where there is a lack of awareness of the left side, and some patients are affected with right-neglect where there is a no awareness of the right side. The location of the clot that caused the stroke affects various cortical systems therefore disturbing more than just vision. The entire visual system is intact, but the issue resides in the brain that simply fails to perceive one side. Due to the complexity and variation of this condition from patient-to-patient, treatments are limited and working solutions do not benefit all patients. Visual exercises are shown to improve awareness of the neglected side, but in most cases full perception is never restored. Since one side of these affected individuals’ perception is absent and due to the variety of deficits present in this disorder, living independently and performing daily tasks can be difficult. Often, patients will bump into walls, not eat all of their food and or not realize that someone is standing near them. hemispatial neglect is detected in various visual tests such as the Piazza del Duomo assessment, requesting patients to circle a particular letter in a scramble of a variety of letters, and the line-bisecting test. Many times, hemispatial neglect can be detected by simple visual observation. A medical professional or even a family member can notice effects by standing to the neglected side of the patient. The patient, if affected by hemineglect, will fail to realize the presence of the family member on their neglected side. Motor defects are also present in hemineglect. A lack of awareness to one side of the body can cause the neglection of appendages even though the limbs could have the ability to make movements. Patients will fail to notice their own limbs and therefore never use them. The drug Levodopa frequently used for Parkinson’s disease interferes with dopamine circuits in the brain hence affecting motor skills. This drug helps the motor aspect of hemineglect and some patients eventually gain the ability to point to objects on their neglected side. Many facets of hemineglect are still unknown. Increased awareness of this perplexing disorder would help further its understanding and in turn creating advancements for a possible solution and maybe full recovery from hemispatial neglect.