Visual Object Agnosia in Acute Ischemic Stroke: A First Neuroimaging Biomarker

Study Objective: To demonstrate the potential use of peripheral sulcus occipitotemporalis involvement as a first neuroimaging biomarker of visual object agnosia in acute ischemic stroke. Study Design: Retrospective study. Materials and Methods. We have examined 76 patients (52 males, 24 females) in peracute or acute hemisphetic (supratentorial) ischemic stroke. The age of participants was 66.5 ± 6.7 years. The examination involved neurological, neuropsychologic, neuroimaging and eye checks. Any disturbances of the visual object gnosis were diagnosed with the Object Decision test from the Birmingham Object Recognition Battery. According to brain CT and MRI results, all patients underwent assessment of their sulcus occipitotemporalis involvement. Study Results. Stroke-related visual object agnosia was diagnosed in 7 (9.2%) patients. Statistically significant correlation between foci localisation in the sulcus occipitotemporalis and visual object agnosia development (χ2 = 64.2; р < 0.001) has been demonstrated. The sensitivity of sulcus occipitotemporalis involvement as a biomarker of visual object agnosia in acute ischemic stroke was 85.7%, while the specificity was 100%. Conclusion. Sulcus occipitotemporalis involvement in acute ischemic stroke can be used as a neuroimaging biomarker of visual object agnosia. Keywords: visual agnosia, object agnosia, ischemic stroke, neuroimaging, sulcus occipitotemporalis.