Case Studies in Neuroscience: Instability of the visual near triad in traumatic brain injury—evidence for a putative convergence integrator

Deficits of convergence and accommodation are common following traumatic brain injury, including mild traumatic brain injury, although the mechanism and localization of these deficits have been unclear and supranuclear control of the near-vision response has been incompletely understood. We describe a patient who developed profound instability of the near-vision response with inability to maintain convergence and accommodation following mild traumatic brain injury, who was identified to have a structural lesion on brain MRI in the pulvinar of the caudal thalamus, the pretectum, and the rostral superior colliculus. We discuss the potential relationship between posttraumatic clinical near-vision response deficits and the MRI lesion in this patient. We further propose that the MRI lesion location, specifically the rostral superior colliculus, participates in neural integration for convergence holding, given its proven anatomic connections with the central mesencephalic reticular formation and C-group medial rectus motoneurons in the oculomotor nucleus, which project to extraocular muscle nontwitch fibers specialized for fatigue-resistant, slow, tonic activity such as vergence holding. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Supranuclear control of the near-vision response has been incompletely understood to date. We propose, based on clinical and anatomic evidence, functional pathways for vergence that participate in the generation of the near triad, “slow vergence,” and vergence holding.