Anatomical correlate of positive spontaneous visual phenomena – a voxelwise lesion study

Objectives: Visual phenomena such as phosphenes, photopsias or complex visual hallucinations occur in patients with lesions affecting the occipital, parietal or temporal lobe. Whether these phenomena are provoked by lesions in specific anatomical regions is still uncertain. To determine which brain regions might be involved in such visual phenomena, we used new brain imaging and lesion analysis tools that allow a direct comparison with control patients. Methods: Visual phenomena were investigated in a total of 23 patients with acute infarctions along the visual pathways (6 patients with left-sided, 17 patients w…