Selective impairment of smooth‐pursuit eye movements due to an ischemic lesion of the basal pons

Abstract

Voluntary and reflex‐like eye movements were measured in a patient with an ischemic lesion of the right basal pons. Ipsilateral smooth‐pursuit eye movements were predominantly impaired and interrupted by saccades. This profound smooth‐pursuit deficit contrasted with only minor abnormalities of visually guided saccades and the vestibulo‐ocular reflex. A selective disturbance of smooth‐pursuit eye movements due to a lesion of the basal pons in this patient concurs with recent work in monkeys suggesting that smooth‐pursuit eye movements are mediated by a parietooccipito‐ponto‐cerebellar pathway.