(OM) Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; (DRG) Departments of Neurology, Ophthalmology, Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Emergency Medicine, and Medicine, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Subject
Smooth Pursuit
Description
Smooth pursuit: instruct the patient to hold their head steady, fix their eyes on the camera and slowly move the camera in the horizontal and vertical planes. Or, have the patient focus on their outstretched thumbnail (or other small fixation target), while following the slowly moving object horizontally and vertically with the head still. Note saccadic (where saccades substitute for subnormal smooth pursuit gain to catch-up to the target) "choppy" pursuit [https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1307533]. Impaired pursuit horizontally and vertically is typically seen in cerebellar disease [https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=187722&q=saccadic+dysmetria&fd=title_t%2Cdescription_t%2Csubject_t&facet_setname_s=ehsl_novel_gold] (or its connections). If impairment of pursuit is asymmetric, think about an ipsilesional process - e.g., saccadic or choppy pursuit to the right due to a right hemispheric lesion [https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=187721]. Mild impairments of smooth pursuit may not be evident over a video connection (i.e., due to limited frames per second).
