Summary
The essential disturbance in five patients with vertical nystagmus was an inability to generate smooth pursuit eye movements in the direction of the quick phase of their nystagmus. As the cause of this behavior, the authors suggest an asymmetric impairment of the visual input to the pursuit system. This defect causes a ‘directional preponderance’ of the pursuit system detectable as a continuous drift off target. The drift is interrupted by refoveating saccades, thus resulting in a vertical nystagmus.
Zusammenfassung
Fünf Patienten mit Vertikalnystagmus zeigten als wesentliche Störung eine Unfähigkeit, gleitende Folgebewegungen in Richtung der raschen Nystagmusphase auszuführen. Als Ursache dieser Störung nehmen Verff. eine asymmetrische Unterbrechung visueller Zuflüsse zum Folgesystem an. Durch diese Unterbrechung wird das normalerweise bestehende Gleichgewicht im Folgesystem gestört. Es entsteht ein ‚Richtungsüberwiegen‘ im Folgesystem, das sich in einem Abtreiben der Gesichtslinie vom ruhenden Fixierpunkt auswirkt. Dieses Abtreiben wird immer wieder durch Sakkaden korrigiert, so daß ein Nystagmus entsteht.
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Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SFB 70, B 4
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Mehdorn, E., Kommerell, G. & Meienberg, O. Primary position vertical nystagmus: ‘Directional preponderance’ of the pursuit system?. Albrecht von Graefes Arch. Klin. Ophthalmol. 209, 209–217 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00414613
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00414613