Preservation of voluntary saccades after intracarotid injection of barbiturate

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Abstract
We studied voluntary saccades in 44 patients undergoing Wada testing before surgery for intractable epilepsy. After intracarotid injection of barbiturate, and while they were hemiplegic, patients could still make voluntary saccades toward or away from the side of injection. Sustained ipsiversive deviation of gaze was not noted. Saccades made away from the side of injection were slower than ipsilateral saccades in only 3 of 10 tests. These data support the hypothesis of parallel, independent pathways from the frontal eye fields and from the superior colliculi to the brainstem reticular nuclei that generate saccades.