Reversal of visual neglect in Parkinson's disease by treatment with picoTesla range magnetic fields

Visual neglect and impairment in perceptual motor or visuospatial tasks are among the most frequently encountered abnormalities in neuropsychological testing of patients with Parkinson's disease, being present in up to 90% of patients. It has been proposed that neglect reflects an attentional-arousal deficit induced by lesions that interrupt a cortical-limbic-reticular loop. Recently, we have reported that application of extracranial magnetic fields (MF) in the picoTesla range was efficacious in reducing the severity of the motor disability of Parkinsonism as well as improving some of the cognitive abnormalities associated with the disease such as visuoperceptive deficits. We now present a 61 year old fully medicated Parkinsonian patient in whom rapid reversal of left visual neglect as well as improvement in visuoconstructional (drawing) performance was noted immediately after a single external application of MF. We propose that this effect was related to enhancement of directed attention through a mechanism involving an interaction between the pineal gland, which is considered a "magnetosensor," and the reticular formation which mediates arousal and attention. This report demonstrates the efficacy of extremely weak MF in reversing some of the cognitive abnormalities in Parkinsonism, notably neglect and visuoperceptive deficits, which contribute significantly to impairment of the patient's daily living activities.