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From the Department of Pathophysiology of Vision and Neuroophthalmology, University Eye Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen Germany.
| Abstract |
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METHODS. A scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) was used to scan vertical triplets of dots along the vertical field border in 20 patients (36 eyes) with homonymous hemianopia without macular sparing. Stimuli and fundus were imaged simultaneously for fixation monitoring.
RESULTS. None of the patients showed a field border that coincided exactly with the vertical midline. In 34 eyes, the seeing area extended from the vertical meridian into the blind hemifield and formed a vertical strip of perception. None of the patients showed additional foveal sparing. Twenty-two eyes showed a concave shape of the seeing area within the foveal region of the blind hemifield.
CONCLUSIONS. Our results show that the nasotemporal overlap exists in humans. It consists of a strip of intact perception reaching into the blind hemifield. The concave shape can be explained by the size and distribution of the receptive fields of the retinal ganglion cells.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the existence of a different phenomenon called foveal sparing.4 Histologic and histochemical studies in monkeys showed a zone where ipsi- and contralaterally projecting ganglion cells intermingle along the vertical retinal meridian.5 6 7 8 9 In the foveal region, a widening of this zone was observed. This widening was supposed to cause a foveal sparing of approximately 1.5° extent within the hemianopic field defect if this phenomenon existed also in humans. Stone et al.5 cut one optic tract and observed the areas of degeneration on the retina. They found a strip of intermingling ganglion cells along the vertical meridian that ranged 0.5° into each hemifield (Fig. 1A) . Bunt et al.6 and Bunt and Minckler7 used a retrograde labeling technique in monkeys and confirmed the finding by Stone et al.5 in principle, but in the foveal region they found the strip to be widened by up to 1.5° toward either side (Fig. 1B) . Fukuda et al.9 found the overlap increasing from 0.3° in the central retina and gradually widening toward the periphery (Fig. 1C) .
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In our previous study1 we looked for macular sparing in patients with hemianopia. We found four patients with macular sparing extending 2° to 5° horizontally and a vertical strip of overlap of 0.5° to 1° in 12 of 13 eyes, but our results allowed no definite conclusions regarding foveal sparing because of the small sample size.
The existence of foveal sparing cannot be shown by conventional perimetry, because of insufficient fixation control, the effects of light-scattering, and insufficient spatial accuracy. For instance, eye movements during stimulus presentation cause a shift of the entire vertical field border. A common fixation pattern of patients with hemianopia is characterized by frequent saccades toward the hemianopic side.1 11 In addition, some patients without macular sparing use an eccentric retinal locus for fixation, which also causes a shift of the visual field border in conventional perimetry.1 12
The spatial accuracy of standard automated grid perimetry techniques is too low to detect foveal sparing, and kinetic procedures potentially induce the patient to look toward the stimulus. In addition, light-scatter reduces the spatial accuracy, especially in the center of the visual field (described in the Methods section). The purpose of this study was to determine the exact shape of the vertical border of the visual field by a method that avoids these influences, to examine the functional relevance of the histologic data in humans and to clarify whether foveal sparing exists.
| Methods |
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To investigate the shape of the absolute visual field defect we performed a specially designed microperimetry in 20 patients with hemianopia. We scanned vertical triplets of black dots on a bright red background in different eccentricities from the vertical meridian and distances to each other onto the patients retina1 (Fig. 2A) . In central fixation, the vertical and the horizontal meridians cross the fovea, and the foveolar reflex is identical with the center of the fixation cross. The presentation time was 120 ms, and the Michelson contrast was 0.986. The triplets (n = 113) consisted of three dots of 20 minarc diameter (Fig. 2A) . The middle dot was always located on the horizontal meridian. On the vertical meridian, only the upper and the lower dots were presented, to avoid interfering with the fixation cross.
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The SLO method allows observation of the stimuli and the fundus simultaneously on a video monitor. The entire recording was stored on a SVHS videotape.
During the examination, the patients had to fixate a cross of 20 minarc diameter in the SLO. When the patient fixated the cross foveally, the investigator presented one triplet, and the patient was asked to report whether he or she saw any of the three presented dots and if so, which of them (the upper, the lower, and/or the middle). Because the middle dot was always located on the horizontal meridian, it was easy for the patient to localize the position of the dots. If fixation was unstable during the trial, the investigator repeated the last presentation. The eccentricity of the dots and their distance to each other was varied in random order.
During off-line analysis of the videotape, the position of three to four small retinal vessels taken from a still picture with central fixation was marked once on the video screen. Subsequently, the video sequences with the stimuli were watched in slow motion field by field. The duration of every stimulus sequence was 120 ms which corresponds to six video fields (three video frames). During each of these sequences, the position of the vessels in the video image in relation to the vessel marks on the screen was compared. If the patients fundus was shifted during these 120 ms, the answer was discarded; otherwise, the seen dots were entered into an evaluation table. Even small retinal shifts of less than the diameter of a small retinal vessel (i.e., <5 minarc) could be detected. Eccentric fixation was excluded in all patients by carefully observing the position of the fovea and by admonishing them to fixate the center of the fixation cross when eye movements occurred. The patients responses were highly reproducible, especially on the horizontal meridian, where multiple dots were tested. Inconsistent answers between trials never exceeded 2% of all test points per eye.
One important feature of our specially designed SLO perimetry is the elimination of eye movement artifacts during stimulus presentation as well as during off-line evaluation. The second beneficial feature of our SLO microperimetry is the reduction of light-scattering by the stimulus itself (Fig. 3) . In conventional perimetry, even slight lens opacities produce a halo when a bright stimulus on a darker background is presented (Fig. 3A) . If the stimulus is located within the field defect, near the border to the seeing hemifield, the halo may cause a false-positive response, because the patient sees part of the halo. This effect is more pronounced in the foveal region because of its high sensitivity and may lead to a false finding of foveal sparing. Therefore, we used the SLO in inverted mode (dark stimuli on bright background, Fig. 3B ) where the light is scattered into the stimulus.
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| Results |
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Figure 5 shows two original findings. The seen dots are white, the unseen dots are black. The graph shows the complete stimulus grid. The first patient (Fig. 5A) had left-side hemianopia. Along the vertical meridian, there was a strip of perception of 0.5° in the foveal area with a slight widening of 1° in the more peripheral area. The second patient (Fig. 5B) had right-side hemianopia. The border in the foveal region was concave without any overlap at the horizontal meridian. At 2° vertical eccentricity, a strip of overlap began. Its asymmetric peripheral widening indicates a slight torsion of the fundus.
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| Discussion |
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In a clinical study, Huber,4 using Goldmann perimetry, found in his patients with occipital lobectomy a widening strip of perception in the foveal region and called this phenomenon foveal sparing. He attributed his finding to a "checkerboard innervation" of the central part of the retina. A possible explanation of Hubers findings is the effect of light scattering of the stimuli in the Goldmann perimeter as described in the introduction (Fig. 3A) . The patients may have seen the halos of the stimuli presented within the absolute scotoma, but very near to the vertical meridian, which led to the conclusion that foveal sparing had occurred. An additional factor may have been unstable and/or eccentric fixation.1
The distribution of ganglion cells in the foveal and perifoveal regions is of great interest regarding foveal sparing. Investigators in the histologic and histochemical studies5 6 7 8 9 in monkeys assume that the overlap in the foveal region may cause foveal sparing in the visual field. In contrast, a hypothesis supporting the absence of foveal sparing was suggested by Wyatt,13 who emphasized the difference between the anatomic locations of the ganglion cell bodies and the location of the associated receptive field, which may differ in the central retina. The ganglion cell bodies located at the foveal rim that contribute to the widening zone of intermingling ipsi- and contralaterally projecting ganglion cells have their corresponding receptive fields at and near the very center of the visual field. As a consequence of the histologically widening strip of intermingling ganglion cells and the enlargement of the receptive fields in the periphery, the shape of the seeing visual area should be concave with the smallest extent around the fovea. The findings of the present study concerning the narrowing of the strip of perception at the fovea confirm the hypothesis of Wyatt.13
Regarding the more peripheral region, Fukuda et al.9 found the width of the strip of overlap increasing in the periphery. Our data confirm the results of Fukuda et al.9 We found a peripheral widening of the vertical strip of perception extending at least 0.5° in 18 eyes. However, because of our technically restricted SLO field, we were able to test the visual field only within ±8° of vertical eccentricity. The shape of the more peripheral visual field border could not be determined. The asymmetry of the overlap, as described by Fukuda et al.,9 could not be confirmed in this study.
Perry and Cowey14 showed the importance of the length of the fibers of Henle in the retina of macaque monkeys. The fibers of Henle connect cones with the inner nuclear layer cells and subsequent ganglion cells. Because of the dense packing of foveal cones, the cells of the ganglion and inner nuclear layers are radially displaced, which means that the foveal cones have long Henle fibers. The Henle fibers radiate from the fovea in all directions. Some cones from a small patch of the center of the fovea can have their pedicles in the nasal and others in the temporal retina.
Perry and Cowey14 further pointed out the relevance of the offset by the Henle fibers and the bipolar and ganglion cells, which is important in the relationship between the ganglion cells at the fovea and the central magnification factor. They found a total offset of 412 µm at a 300-µm distance from the foveal center, declining with increasing distance from the fovea. They showed that the central few degrees of the retina are disproportionately overrepresented in the visual cortex compared to more eccentric regions.15
This overrepresentation was later confirmed in brain lesion imaging and visual field studies in humans, where the central 10° of the visual field were found to be represented in more than 50% of the primary visual cortex.2 3 The linear magnification factorthat is, the length of cortex that represents 1° of the visual field at a given eccentricity (e)was calculated by Horton and Hoyt2 in humans to Mlinear(e) = 17.3/(e + 0.75°). This means that, at 0.5° eccentricity, 1° of the visual field is represented by 13.8 mm of cortical length. A slight strip of perception in the hemianopic field due to a nasotemporal overlap of retinal ganglion cells therefore is represented in a highly magnified cortical area.
Another interesting aspect is the region of the developing optic chiasm, a ventral midline structure, where retinal ganglion cell axons diverge to either side of the brain. At this point, growing axons decide whether to cross and project contralaterally or to remain on the ipsilateral side of the brain. This guidance decision is regulated by guidance receptors, the roundabout receptor (Robo) and its ligand (Slit) which was shown in Drosophila and in mice.16 17 These studies16 17 show that this guiding systems play an important role in the chiasm formation. However, this decision for crossing or noncrossing at the midline of the chiasm has to be differentiated from the nasotemporal overlap at the retinal vertical meridian, which is the subject of this article.
Our study reconciles the results of the histologic and histochemical investigations in monkeys with the functional situation in humans.
| Acknowledgements |
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| Footnotes |
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Submitted for publication April 1, 2002; revised November 1, 2002; accepted November 19, 2002.
Commercial relationships policy: N.
The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C.
1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Corresponding author: Jens Reinhard, Department of Pathophysiology of Vision & Neuroophthalmology, University Eye Hospital of Tübingen, Schleichstrasse 12-16, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany; jens.reinhard{at}med.uni-tuebingen.de.
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