Saccadic responses in patients with hemispheric stroke

Saccadic characteristics were examined in 15 patients with unilateral hemispheric stroke. Eye movements were measured by a standard electro-oculogram technique. In patients with cortical infarcts, mean gain values were lower than in the control subjects for eye movements directed away from the infarct (contralateral), but higher for eye movements towards the infarct (ipsilateral) (p <0.025). We suggest that impairment of efferent neural signals from the affected hemisphere of stroke patients may decrease excitation of the contralateral neural circuits and inhibition of the ipsilateral neural circuits of the brainstem saccade generator.