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Progressive ventral posterior cortical degeneration presenting as alexia for music and words

From the Department of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine, and the Neurology Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, FL.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Kenneth M. Heilman, Box 100236, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0236.

Patients with posterior cortical atrophy may have dorsal visual system(occipital-parietal) dysfunction (optic ataxia, visuospatial disorientation, and simultanagnosia), ventral visual system (occipital-temporal) dysfunction(pure alexia, prosopagnosia, visual anomia, and agnosia), or both. We report a professional musician with ventral system dysfunction whose first symptom was alexia for music. Subsequently, she developed pure alexia for words but had preserved sorting of words. These observations suggest that the ventral visual system is important in music and word reading. However, sorting of words may be mediated by the dorsal visual system.

Supported by the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Received March 24, 1997. Accepted in final form April 25, 1997.