Bilateral striate cortex contusion presenting with cerebral asthenopia rather than cortical blindness.

We report a 22-year-old female with a history of contusion of bilateral occipital lobes at the age of 1 year. Magnetic resonance imaging confirmed severe lesion in bilateral striate cortices which should have resulted in cortical blindness. However, she displayed a fairly good visual function presenting only cerebral asthenopia and the restriction of the visual field. A positron emission tomography revealed that no areas other than the primary visual cortices responded to visual stimuli. Thus, her residual vision may be attributable to plasticity of the visual cortex in humans.