Unexpected CT-scan findings in global aphasia

Abstract

The clinical-CT scan correlation was studied in 37 stroke patients with global aphasia. The time between stroke and language examination was between 21 and 60 days; the time between stroke and CT scan was equal to or longer than 21 days. It was found that while 22 patients harboured the expected large lesions including Broca's and Wernicke's areas, 8 had anterior lesions sparing Wernicke's area, 3 had posterior lesions sparing Broca's area, and 4 had deep lesions centered on the insula and lenticular nucleus. These findings suggest that global aphasia, albeit apparently simple from the semeiological viewpoint (also due to its severity), does in fact include different clinical entities. However, no clear-cut correlation was found between either subtype of speech production or severity, and locus of the lesion (except that deep lesions were associated with somewhat milder forms). An interesting finding, i.e. that all 8 patients with anterior lesions were females, while the 3 posterior ones were male, is briefly discussed in terms of possible differential organization of language functions in the two sexes.