Gerstmann's syndrome

From Psy3241

Gerstmann’s syndrome is a neurological disorder named after the Austrian neurologist, Josef Gerstmann. This disorder is not unique to itself but instead is classified by four primary syndromes that include a writing disability, a lack of understanding of the rules for calculation or arithmetic, inability in distinguishing right from left, and the inability to identify fingers. Other possible symptoms include the difficulty in expressing oneself while speaking, reading and writing, and understanding speech, which is known as aphasia.

Gerstmann’s syndrome is mainly caused either by a stroke or damage to the brain in the parietal lobe on the dominant side at the angular gyrus. In adults, this syndrome will decrease overtime but for children the chance of the symptoms decreasing in severity is less likely. This is because of the syndrome occurring from congenital or learning disorders in the children. Also there are no treatments for Gerstmann’s syndrome at this time.

The first main symptom is agraphia, which is a writing disability. This is usually diagnosed by illegible or very poor writing, inconsistencies in forming letters, mixture of upper and lower case letters, mixture between print and cursory writing, irregular letter sizes and shapes, and unfinished letters.

Acalculia is the lack of understanding of the rules for calculation or arithmetic. To test the patient a task of serial subtraction of 7 from 100 is to be completed. This means they start at 100 and count down to 93, 86, 79, 72, etc.

Finger agnosia is the inability to identify fingers on the hand. This is tested by asking the patient to use a specific finger to touch another specific finger or other various body parts. An example would be to use your right index finger to touch your nose.

The last symptom is left-right disorientation, which is the confusion between your left and right limbs. This is important as it shows there is a lesion in the dominant parietal lobe. Tests for left-right disorientation involve the patient being asked questions involving left and right body parts and whether they can accurately obey the commands.