Subcortical neglect is not always a transient phenomenon: evidence from a 1-year follow-up study.

Compared to cortical lesions, spatial neglect following subcortical stroke is most frequently seen as a mild and transient phenomenon. Since this assumption is based on only few observations, we reexamined the prognosis and severity of spatial neglect in patients with circumscribed right-sided basal ganglia or thalamic lesions in the acute and in the chronic phase of the stroke. On average, 1.15 years after stroke, spatial neglect had persisted in about 40% of the patients with subcortical lesions. The severity was reduced to about one third. The results argue against the view that spatial neglect following subcortical lesions typically has a favorable prognosis.