Preservation of Reading in a Patient with Acquired Impairment of Saccadic Function (.pdf)

Saccadic disturbance after cardiac surgery is a well-recognized but a poorly understood phenomenon. Historical notions suggest that absence of saccadic function, at least in the horizontal plane, should significantly compromise the ability to read. We present a case of a 49-year-old man with clinically obvious loss of saccadic function after surgical repair of aortic dissection. Upon questioning, the patient reported no difficulty at work where he had to do considerable reading. This apparent discrepancy was analyzed with quantitative eye movement recordings.