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Stereopsis in parietal lobe damage: Reply
172
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
screening test for the presence of parietal lobe disease." Carl Ellenberger, Jr., M.D. Department of Ophthalmology Washington University 660 South Euclid Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63110 REFERENCES
1. Benton, A. L., and Hecaen, H. : Stereoscopic vision in patients with unilateral cerebral disease. Neurology 20:1084, 1970. 2. Carmon, A., and Bechtoldt, H. : Dominance of the right cerebral hemisphere for stereopsis. Neuropsychologica 7:29, 1969. REPLY
Editor, American Journal of Ophthalmology: Dr. Ellenberger has failed to distinguish between expressive and receptive aphasia. In our paper (Defective stereopsis in lesions of the parietal lobe. Am. J. Ophth. 73:281, 1972), we specified that patients with recep tive aphasias were excluded ; we accepted ex pressive aphasias as did Benton and Hecaen, who stated that some of their cases "showed primarily expressive disturbances of lan guage." It is not possible to explain stereop sis testing procedures to a patient with re ceptive aphasia; such a patient simply could not understand the instructions. In the paper of Benton and Hecaen, and that of Carmon and Bechtoldt, no attempt was made to be more specific at an anatomic level than a lateralization of hemisphere ; we studied patients whose pathologic processes were primarily confined to the parietal lobe. Since the other studies reported patients with left hemisphere damage that did not, in most cases, involve damage to the parietal lobe, their findings are not directly compara ble to ours. Benton and Hecaen did not report the ba sis on which their diagnoses were made. If there is concern about the validity of our di agnoses, despite neurologic examinations, electroencephalograms, brain scans, and arteriography, one should be even more skepti
JULY, 1972
cal of cerebral localization in the other pa pers cited. We cannot accept the contention that the other cases were studied more thor oughly. Terry Bruce Rothstein, M.D. Joel G. Sacks, M.D. Department of Ophthalmology Northwestern University Chicago, Illinois BOOK R E V I E W S SURGERY OF THE CORNEA, vol.
II. By
Joa-
quin Barraquer and Joaquin Rutllan. Bar celona, Instituto Barraquer, 1971. Clothbound, 342 pages, table of contents, 304 black and white figures, 82 color figures. $40 The first volume of "Surgery of the Ante rior Segment of the Eye" appeared in 1964 and was concerned with general aspects of anterior segment surgery and with intracapsular cataract extraction. The present vol ume deals with surgery of the cornea, in cluding keratectomies, conjunctivoplasties, and lamellar and penetrating keratoplasties. It is written by the master surgeon, Joaquin Barraquer, and his faithful and competent associate, Joaquin Rutllan. The volume has been accurately and sensitively translated by Louis F. Sellyei, and Mrs. Katherine F. Chalkley, the wonderful manuscript editor of the American Journal of Ophthalmology for so many years, provided the copy editing of the English edition. Through his indefatiguable journeys, his lectures, and his superb motion pictures, Joaquin Barraquer has become one of the world's most famous surgeons. All who have seen his work know not only his surgical skill but his candor and his exceptional devo tion to detail in minutiae that makes for bril liant surgery. This book reflects his philoso phy and provides not only an exposition of surgical techniques which the authors have found useful but also a discussion of the in cidence of surgical accidents and their man agement. The opening third of the book is
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
screening test for the presence of parietal lobe disease." Carl Ellenberger, Jr., M.D. Department of Ophthalmology Washington University 660 South Euclid Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63110 REFERENCES
1. Benton, A. L., and Hecaen, H. : Stereoscopic vision in patients with unilateral cerebral disease. Neurology 20:1084, 1970. 2. Carmon, A., and Bechtoldt, H. : Dominance of the right cerebral hemisphere for stereopsis. Neuropsychologica 7:29, 1969. REPLY
Editor, American Journal of Ophthalmology: Dr. Ellenberger has failed to distinguish between expressive and receptive aphasia. In our paper (Defective stereopsis in lesions of the parietal lobe. Am. J. Ophth. 73:281, 1972), we specified that patients with recep tive aphasias were excluded ; we accepted ex pressive aphasias as did Benton and Hecaen, who stated that some of their cases "showed primarily expressive disturbances of lan guage." It is not possible to explain stereop sis testing procedures to a patient with re ceptive aphasia; such a patient simply could not understand the instructions. In the paper of Benton and Hecaen, and that of Carmon and Bechtoldt, no attempt was made to be more specific at an anatomic level than a lateralization of hemisphere ; we studied patients whose pathologic processes were primarily confined to the parietal lobe. Since the other studies reported patients with left hemisphere damage that did not, in most cases, involve damage to the parietal lobe, their findings are not directly compara ble to ours. Benton and Hecaen did not report the ba sis on which their diagnoses were made. If there is concern about the validity of our di agnoses, despite neurologic examinations, electroencephalograms, brain scans, and arteriography, one should be even more skepti
JULY, 1972
cal of cerebral localization in the other pa pers cited. We cannot accept the contention that the other cases were studied more thor oughly. Terry Bruce Rothstein, M.D. Joel G. Sacks, M.D. Department of Ophthalmology Northwestern University Chicago, Illinois BOOK R E V I E W S SURGERY OF THE CORNEA, vol.
II. By
Joa-
quin Barraquer and Joaquin Rutllan. Bar celona, Instituto Barraquer, 1971. Clothbound, 342 pages, table of contents, 304 black and white figures, 82 color figures. $40 The first volume of "Surgery of the Ante rior Segment of the Eye" appeared in 1964 and was concerned with general aspects of anterior segment surgery and with intracapsular cataract extraction. The present vol ume deals with surgery of the cornea, in cluding keratectomies, conjunctivoplasties, and lamellar and penetrating keratoplasties. It is written by the master surgeon, Joaquin Barraquer, and his faithful and competent associate, Joaquin Rutllan. The volume has been accurately and sensitively translated by Louis F. Sellyei, and Mrs. Katherine F. Chalkley, the wonderful manuscript editor of the American Journal of Ophthalmology for so many years, provided the copy editing of the English edition. Through his indefatiguable journeys, his lectures, and his superb motion pictures, Joaquin Barraquer has become one of the world's most famous surgeons. All who have seen his work know not only his surgical skill but his candor and his exceptional devo tion to detail in minutiae that makes for bril liant surgery. This book reflects his philoso phy and provides not only an exposition of surgical techniques which the authors have found useful but also a discussion of the in cidence of surgical accidents and their man agement. The opening third of the book is