Assessment of Topographical Disorientation: First Application of New Tests and Case Report

Abstract

A right posterior cerebral lesion can lead to an inability to orient and can consequently interfere with daily-life autonomy. Despite the wide literature about navigation abilities, it is still difficult to assess topographical disorientation (TD) because of the interindividual specificity of spatial knowledge and the diversity of symptoms. We describe here a set of new tests evaluating spatial cognition in a patient with TD presenting difficulties in navigating inside the hospital and in his hometown more than 3 years after his diffuse ischemic right Sylvian stroke. These tests assess mental imagery (global and specifically spatial imagery), perspective change, and the ability to recall spatial relations in familiar environments. The evaluation revealed difficulties with all the tests (but not in global mental imagery) in this patient when compared with matched controls. Hence, these new tests seem specific and affected by a right hemispheric lesion. The observed deficits can explain, at least partially, the spatial orientation difficulties experienced by this patient in the hospital and familiar environments. In conclusion, these tests could be appropriate tools for the assessment of visuospatial and spatial processes.