Visually induced central pain and arm withdrawal after right parietal lobe infarction

Abstract

A 46 year old man with ischaemic infarction of the right parietal cortex had left hemianaesthesia when his eyes were closed. With eyes open, visual stimuli induced withdrawal of the arm and a burning pain in the numb side of the body. Visually induced central pain is a new clinical finding and may be related to damage of cells with anticipatory inhibitory function in the parietal association cortex.