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Saccadic intrusions in Alzheimer-type dementia

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Summary

Horizontal eye-movement responses of four patients with Alzheimer-type dementia were recorded using the infrared oculographic technique. Abnormally frequent saccadic intrusions occurred during the fixation and slow, smooth pursuit tasks in all four patients. Saccadic intrusions have previously been reported in the literature to occur in normals, in strabismus, in patients with certain neurological disorders, and in schizophrenic patients. This is the first report of a group of Alzheimer-type dements with an eye movement abnormality which cannot be regarded as an ocularmotor reflection of diffuse cerebral dysfunction.

Zusammenfassung

Mit Hilfe der Infrarot-Oculographie wurden horizontale Augenbewegungen bei Patienten mit Alzheimer-Krankheit registriert. Während der Fixation wurden abnorm häufige, den Augenbewegungsablauf störende Sakkaden beobachtet, ebenso während langsamer Folgebewegungen. Derartige einschließende Sakkaden wurden schon früher in der Literatur bei Normalen, bei Strabismus sowie bei Patienten mit bestimmten neurologischen Erkrankungen und bei Schizophrenen beschrieben. Der vorliegende Bericht dürfte der erste sein, der sich auf eine Augenmotilitätsstörung bei Alzheimer bezieht, die nicht als bloße Folge einer diffusen cerebralen Dysfunction betrachtet werden kann.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, 94720, Berkeley, California

    A. Jones & L. Stark

  2. Department of Neurology, University of California, 95616, Davis, California

    R. P. Friedland, B. Koss & B. A. Thompkins-Ober

  3. Veterans Administration Hospital, 94553, Martinez, California

    R. P. Friedland, B. Koss & B. A. Thompkins-Ober

  4. Donner Laboratory, University of California, 94720, Berkeley, California, USA

    R. P. Friedland

Authors
  1. A. Jones
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  2. R. P. Friedland
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  3. B. Koss
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  4. L. Stark
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  5. B. A. Thompkins-Ober
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Jones, A., Friedland, R.P., Koss, B. et al. Saccadic intrusions in Alzheimer-type dementia. J Neurol 229, 189–194 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00313742

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00313742

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