Saccadic and smooth pursuit eye movement
Abstract
The origin of the generation of saccadic and smooth pursuit eye movements has not been proved. The goal of the study was to search for the connection of the visual- oculomotor reactions: saccades and eye-tracking test with cerebellar damage. 11 patients treated with aminoglicosides, because of pneumonia, were tested using electronystagmography (ENG). After 21 (mean) days of pharmacological therapy the neurological examination revealed the cerebellar disability in all cases. On the base of our previous studies, the cortical- Purkinje cells damage- was suspected. In all tested patients, saccadic movements were disturbed- overshoot, undershoot and prolonged latencies were observed. In 7 cases, eye-tracking test was not correct: the degradation of sinusoidal pattern was noted the most often. The results pointed the connection of generation of these 2 tested visual- oculomotor reactions with the cerebellar, may be located in the cortex, diseases.