AANS Beyond 2021: Full Collection-A Connectivity Model of the Anatomic Substrates Underlying Gerstmann Syndrome

A Connectivity Model of the Anatomic Substrates Underlying Gerstmann Syndrome

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In this video presentation, Nicholas Sedario, a medical student at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, discusses the connectivity model underlying Gerstmann syndrome. Sedario explains that Gerstmann syndrome is a collection of diverse neurologic deficits, including agraphia, acalculia, left-right disorientation, and finger agnosia. Sedario discusses how early neurologist Josef Gerstmann proposed a common denominator underlying these deficits and the ongoing debate around this idea. To address the rarity and isolation of reported cases, Sedario and his team used meta-analytic methodology to find shared neuroanatomic substrates for Gerstmann syndrome. They utilized brain imaging techniques and machine learning to map the functional and structural regions involved in each symptom. Their findings suggest a frontal parietal network and the superior longitudinal fasciculus as potential contributors to Gerstmann syndrome. The study highlights the importance of connectomic data and tractography in surgical planning and understanding the risks and benefits of different surgical decisions for this syndrome and other similar ones.

Keywords

Nicholas Sedario

Gerstmann syndrome

neurologic deficits

connectivity model

Josef Gerstmann