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Phrenological studies of aphasia before Broca: Broca's aphasia or Gall's aphasia?

The history of aphasia is usually taken to begin with Broca's (1861a,b) discovery of the correlation of aphemia with damage to the posterior inferior portion of the frontal lobes and the subsequent relation to left hemisphere. That there were prior, even biblical, references to aphasia is not in dispute, nor that, according to Benton and Joynt (1960), almost all the clinical forms of aphasia had been described prior to 1800. The significance of Broca's case studies, therefore, lies in the association of motor aphasia with focal pathology in the frontal lobe. This paper examines the status of aphasia localization prior to Broca, and, specifically, the extent to which Broca's discovery may have been anticipated by the phrenologists.

Aphasia, Broca↗

Aphasia after stroke: type, severity and prognosis. The Copenhagen aphasia study.

AIM: To determine the types, severity and evolution of aphasia in unselected, acute stroke patients and evaluate potential predictors for language outcome 1 year after stroke. METHODS: 270 acute stroke patients with aphasia (203 with first-ever strokes) were included consecutively and prospectively from three hospitals in Copenhagen, Denmark, and assessed with the Western Aphasia Battery. The assessment was repeated 1 year after stroke. RESULTS: The frequencies of the different types of aphasia in acute first-ever stroke were: global 32%, Broca's 12%, isolation 2%, transcortical motor 2%, Wernicke's 16%, transcortical sensory 7%, conduction 5% and anomic 25%. These figures are not substantially different from what has been found in previous studies of more or less selected populations. The type of aphasia always changed to a less severe form during the first year. Nonfluent aphasia could evolve into fluent aphasia (e.g., global to Wernicke's and Broca's to anomic), whereas a fluent aphasia never evolved into a nonfluent aphasia. One year after stroke, the following frequencies were found: global 7%, Broca's 13%, isolation 0%, transcortical motor 1%, Wernicke's 5%, transcortical sensory 0%, conduction 6% and anomic 29%. The distribution of aphasia types in acute and chronic aphasia is, thus, quite different. The outcome for language function was predicted by initial severity of the aphasia and by the initial stroke severity (assessed by the Scandinavian Stroke Scale), but not by age, sex or type of aphasia. Thus, a scoring of general stroke severity helps to improve the accuracy of the prognosis for the language function. One year after stroke, fluent aphasics were older than nonfluent aphasics, whereas such a difference was not found in the acute phase.

Aged↗

Differences in pain medication use in stroke patients with aphasia and without aphasia.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: While individuals with stroke are known to experience pain for a variety of reasons including premorbid conditions and stroke-specific sequelae, there are some groups of individuals with stroke, who because of aphasia, are unable to express their pain. This study investigated whether there exists an association between severity of aphasia and overall pain medication use as indicated (1) by the proportion of individuals medicated according to aphasia severity and (2) by the dosage of pain medication used according to aphasia severity. METHODS: The study involved a retrospective chart review of 207 charts of patients with stroke admitted to the Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital (JRH), Laval, Canada. Patients were classified into three groups according to level of expressive aphasia: those without aphasia, those with mild-to-moderate aphasia, and those severe aphasia. Information on medications used primarily for pain management was elicited for the first 21 days and the last 5 days of hospitalization. Any substitution, increase, elimination, or addition of pain medication during hospitalization was also monitored. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: While the findings indicate that pain medication prescriptions were similar for all patients, a significantly smaller number of individuals with aphasia received pro re nata (prn) "as required" pain medication when compared with those without aphasia, for the first 21 days and for the last 5 days of hospitalization at the JRH. Similarly, when daily dose was monitored for the same time periods, individuals with aphasia were found to have received less medication for pain than those without aphasia.

Aged↗

Differences between conduction aphasia and Wernicke's aphasia.

Conduction aphasia and Wernike's aphasia have been differentiated by the degree of auditory language comprehension. We quantitatively compared the speech sound errors of two conduction aphasia patients and three Wernicke's aphasia patients on various language modality tests. All of the patients were Japanese. The two conduction aphasia patients had "conduites d'approche" errors and phonological paraphasia. The patient with mild Wernicke's aphasia made various errors. In the patient with severe Wernicke's aphasia, neologism was observed. Phonological paraphasia in the two conduction aphasia patients seemed to occur when the examinee searched for the target word. They made more errors in vowels than in consonants of target words on the naming and repetition tests. They seemed to search the target word by the correct consonant phoneme and incorrect vocalic phoneme in the table of the Japanese alphabet. The Wernicke's aphasia patients who had severe impairment of auditory comprehension, made more errors in consonants than in vowels of target words. In conclusion, utterance of conduction aphasia and that of Wernicke's aphasia are qualitatively distinct.

Aged↗

[A study on restriction of the areas working in speech function--application of multivariate analysis of aphasia test data and of lesions on CT images, by composing a "restricted-aphasia-lesion-map"].

Computed tomography (CT) gave a large contribution to morphological analysis of the aphasia syndromes. The aphasia problems are, however, still controversial and have many unresolved issues, even from a morphological point of view. In most cases with cerebral vascular lesion causing speech dysfunction, we are able to define an extent of density change on CT images. But its extent seems to be often not consistent with the area supposed to be deranged in functional work-up of speech. CT appearance of some areas may be little changed or normal when those areas are to be in poor condition in their functional maintenance. This may be due to such a vascular supply which permits brain tissues to be sustained but which does not work for their function to be normally performed. From 642 cases with cerebral vascular lesion we reviewed CT images of 382 cases: 171 cases having a lesion in the left hemisphere and 46 of them showing aphasia syndrome; 151, a lesion in the right hemisphere alone and 3, aphasic; and 60 cases having lesions on both sides and 7 showing aphasia syndrome. First, we determined anatomically the extent of CT change in 102 cases, all right-handed, with a lesion in the left hemisphere. The extents were piled and made up to a "non-aphasia-lesion-map". This map was used for eliminating those areas as not working in speech function. The other map of the areas was made out of CT images of aphasia cases (33 cases including one agraphia). The latter map was put upon the "non-aphasia-lesion-map", so that the very area working in speech function could be more restricted. The third map, "restricted-aphasia-lesion-map" demonstrated those areas related to speech function: (1) the region limited around the three rami in the Sylvian fissure (Broca A); (2) the inferior frontal gyrus and the posterior aspect of the middle frontal gyrus (Broca B); (3) the inferior aspect of the cortex and subcortex of the Reil's island; (4) most of the middle temporal gyrus, the posterior third of the superior temporal gyrus, a large portion of the supramarginal gyrus and a part of the limbic system; (5) a large portion of the limbic system; (6) the anterior aspect of the superior frontal gyrus; and (7) the corpus callosum. The Standard Language Test for Aphasia (SLTA) was applied for 33 cases of aphasia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗

Aphasia with predominantly subcortical lesion sites: description of three capsular/putaminal aphasia syndromes.

Nine cases of subcortical aphasia with capsular/putaminal (C/P) lesion sites demonstrated on computed tomographic (CT) scans were studied. Eight cases were occlusive-vascular in etiology and one was hemorrhagic. Three subcortical aphasia syndromes and three C/P lesion site patterns were observed. Patients with C/P lesion sites with anterior-superior white-matter lesion extension had good comprehension, grammatical, but slow, dysarthric speech, and lasting right hemiplegia. Patients with C/P lesion sites with posterior white-matter lesion extension across the auditory radiations in the temporal isthmus had poor comprehension, fluent Wernicke-type speech, and lasting right hemiplegia. Patients with C/P lesion sites with both anterior-superior and posterior extension were globally aphasic and had lasting right hemiplegia. Although these cases of C/P subcortical aphasia shared certain well-known features of Broca's and Wernicke's cortical aphasia syndromes, they did not completely resemble cases of either Broca's, Wernicke's, global, or thalamic aphasia in neurologic findings, CT scan lesion sites, or language behavior. Further study of the subcortical aphasias associated with these C/P lesion sites seems to be warranted.

Adult↗

Aphasia in left-handers. Comparison of aphasia profiles and language recovery in non-right-handed and matched right-handed patients.

The present retrospective analysis reports two studies. In Study 1, clinical aspects of aphasia are compared in right-handed (RH) and non-right-handed (NRH) patients; in Study 2, recovery from aphasia is compared in RH and NRH aphasic patients with a minimum of 5 months of daily language rehabilitation. From a continuous series of 1200 brain-damaged subjects, 24 NRH patients with a vascular lesion documented by computerized tomography were selected. In 19 cases the lesion was in the left hemisphere and in 5 cases in the right hemisphere. For 14 NRH patients, a RH subject with similar lesion, matched for age, education, length of illness, etiology (ischemic vs. hemorrhagic), and, when possible, sex was found. Presence and type of aphasia were compared in the two patients of the same pair and were found similar except for Pair 14; the RH subject had global aphasia and the NRH had conduction-like aphasia. Fifteen NRH patients were rehabilitated and reexamined at least 5 months after the first examination. Recovery of the 12 patients with a left-hemisphere lesion was compared with recovery of a group of RH subjects and no significant differences were found. Recovery of the three patients with right-hemisphere lesions is described. It is concluded that differences in type of aphasia and recovery between RHs and NRHs have been overemphasized in the past and must be reconsidered.

Adult↗

Primary progressive aphasia presenting as conduction aphasia.

We report a case of a woman with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) who presented with conduction aphasia. A 60-year-old, right-handed, Japanese female suffering from progressive aphasia had difficulty in repeating words and phrases. She displayed phonemic paraphasias but had preserved comprehension and had no cognitive or behavior disorder for more than 6 years after the onset of the condition. She was able to continue to work successfully and to perform all her normal daily activities. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging revealed minute dilatation of the left inferior horn and sulci in the left hemisphere, and positron emission tomography revealed mild hypometabolism in the left supramarginal gyrus and its surrounding areas. Therefore, she was diagnosed as suffering from PPA presenting as conduction aphasia. We believe that the progressive conduction aphasia of the patient belongs to one of the fluent forms of PPA, and the ability to continue normal work along with the clinical portrayal of preserved memory and cognition skills may be features of a form of PPA presenting as conduction aphasia.

Aphasia, Conduction↗

[Comparison of the Aachen Aphasia Test, clinical study and Aachen Aphasia Beside Test in brain tumor patients].

In the clinical routine examination of patients with brain tumors, aphasic symptoms are often not recognized. In order to document the incidence of such symptoms, three diagnostic methods of testing for aphasia were compared: the Aachen aphasia test (AAT), which is the German standard aphasia test, clinical examination, and the Aachen aphasia bedside test (AABT), which was designed to test patients in the acute phases of illness. In the AAT, 50% of patients with left-sided tumors and 36% of those with right-sided tumors showed aphasic disturbances. The AAT results were defined as the gold standard. Clinical examination showed only low sensitivity; less than half of the aphasic patients were diagnosed as such. The AABT also detected only about half of the patients with aphasic disturbances. The low sensitivity is caused mainly by the results of the patients with right-hemisphere tumors, in which the mental set of the examiner during clinical examination (aphasic symptoms are not expected in patients with right-hemisphere lesions) and the pattern of disturbances in the AABT (deficits may be less severe and different in nature) may prevent detection of aphasic symptoms. Both clinical examination and AABT are thus not suitable for aphasia diagnostics in brain tumor patients. As the AAT is very time-consuming in everyday clinical routine, however, the development of an aphasia screening test seems desirable.

Adolescent↗

[Crossed aphasia in a dextral patient--a case of sensory aphasia due to a right hemispheric lesion].

An extremely rare case of sensory aphasia due to a right hemispheric lesion in a 61-year-old, right-handed male is reported. He manifested jargon aphasia, constructional apraxia and ideational apraxia after an operation for right temporo-parietal cerebral hemorrhage. Standard language test of aphasia (SLTA) administered 6 months after the onset revealed disturbance of verbal comprehension and repetition, fluent jargon with many paraphasias and paragraphias. The brain CT, MRI and IMP-SPECT disclosed right temporo-parietal and angular lesions. There are two other reported cases of right posterior lesion (Puels et al. 1982, Habibs et al. 1983) accompanied by symptoms similar to those in this case, e.g., jargon aphasia, paragraphia and apraxia, and in these cases as well the right deep hemispheric lesion encompassed Wernicke's area. It is suggested that the right and left brain functions are reversed in this patient, because the symptoms of the dominant hemisphere such as sensory aphasia, constructional apraxia, and ideational apraxia were associated with the lesion of the right hemisphere.

Aphasia↗

Educational level, socioeconomic status and aphasia research: a comment on Connor et al. (2001)--effect of socioeconomic status on aphasia severity and recovery.

Is there a relation between socioeconomic factors and aphasia severity and recovery? describe correlations between the educational level and socioeconomic status of aphasic subjects with aphasia severity and subsequent recovery. As stated in the introduction by, studies of the influence of educational level and literacy (or illiteracy) on aphasia severity have yielded conflicting results, while no significant link between socioeconomic status and aphasia severity and recovery has been established. In this brief note, we will comment on their findings and conclusions, beginning first with a brief review of literacy and aphasia research, and complexities encountered in these fields of investigation. This serves as a general background to our specific comments on, which will be focusing on methodological issues and the importance of taking normative values in consideration when subjects with different socio-cultural or socio-economic backgrounds are assessed.

Aphasia↗

Predicting the Western Aphasia Battery Aphasia Quotient.

Administration of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) yields a total score termed the Aphasia Quotient (AQ), which is said to reflect the severity of the spoken language deficit in aphasia. This score is a weighted composite of performance on 10 separate WAB subtests. Based on data from 100 patients, all 10 subtests were found to correlate highly with each other and with the AQ, but the score from one subtest, Information Content, was the best predictor of the AQ. Time postonset had no influence on the relationships among the subtests or between the 10 subtests and the AQ. These findings are useful in understanding the Western Aphasia Battery and in interpreting the Aphasia Quotient.

Adolescent↗

Screening by nurses for aphasia in stroke--the Ullevaal Aphasia Screening (UAS) test.

PURPOSE: In Norway, the speech therapist is responsible for the assessment of language impairment after stroke, but many hospitals have no speech therapist. This study therefore developed and evaluated a simple method to be used by nurses to detect aphasia in the acute stage of stroke; the Ullevaal Aphasia Screening (UAS) test. METHOD: The study was carried out among 37 stroke patients admitted to an acute stroke unit. They were assessed by nurses using the UAS, while the results of a comprehensive assessment by a speech therapist acted as the 'gold standard'. RESULTS: The predictive value of a positive test was 0.67 and that of a negative test 0.93; only two out of 28 who screened negative on the UAS were diagnosed with mild aphasia by the speech therapist. The weighted kappa coefficient of agreement was 0.83, indicating a strong agreement between the nurses' and speech therapists' scoring. The screening took 5-15 minutes to complete. CONCLUSION: The Ullevaal Aphasia screening test seems to be a short and valid screening instrument for aphasia in the acute stage of stroke, but further studies would be needed to substantiate the efficacy of the UAS test.

Aged↗

Long-term stability of improved language functions in chronic aphasia after constraint-induced aphasia therapy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In response to the established notion that improvement of language functions in chronic aphasia only can be achieved through long-term treatment, we examined the efficacy of a short-term, intensive language training, constraint-induced aphasia therapy (CIAT). This program is founded on the learning principles of prevention of compensatory communication (constraint), massed practice, and shaping (induced). METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with chronic aphasia received 30 hours of training over 10 days. Twelve patients were trained with the CIAT program. For 15 patients the training included a module of written language and an additional training in everyday communication, which involved the assistance of family members (CIATplus). Outcome measures included standardized neurolinguistic testing and ratings of the quality and the amount of daily communication. RESULTS: Language functions improved significantly after training for both groups and remained stable over a 6-month follow-up period. Single case analyses revealed statistically significant improvements in 85% of the patients. Patients and relatives of both groups rated the quality and amount of communication as improved after therapy. This increase was more pronounced for patients of the group CIATplus in the follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Results confirm that a short-term intense language training, based on learning principles, can lead to substantial and lasting improvements in language functions in chronic aphasia. The use of family and friends in the training provides an additional valuable element. This effective intervention can be successfully used in the rehabilitation of chronic aphasia patients. Additionally, its short-term design makes it economically attractive for service providers.

Adult↗

Lesion localization in aphasia with cranial computed tomography and the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Exam.

Nineteen stable left-hemisphere stroke patients with aphasia were evaluated by the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) and the Token Test (TT), and by cranial computed tomography (CT). The types of aphasia included Broca (three patients), Wernicke (four patients), conduction (four patients), transcortical motor (four patients), and global (four patients). The lesions, as localized by CT scan, were superimposed onto five composite lesion localization maps for these five aphasia syndromes. There was good correlation between BDAE aphasia type and lesion localization. On CT scans, the locations of cortical language areas lie in a specific relationship to parts of the ventricular system.

Aged↗

Quality of life in aphasia: Greek adaptation of the stroke and aphasia quality of life scale - 39 item (SAQOL-39).

AIM: Health-related quality of life (HRQL) measures are becoming increasingly popular in evaluating health care interventions and services. The stroke and aphasia quality of life scale-39 item (SAQOL-39) is an English questionnaire that measures HRQL in people with aphasia. There is currently no measure to assess the HRQL of Greek-speaking people with aphasia. This study began the cross-cultural adaptation of the SAQOL-39 into Greek, by translating and linguistically validating the instrument. METHODS: The Mapi approach to linguistic validation was followed. The SAQOL-39 was forward translated into Greek and back-translated into English. The pilot version was produced by comparing the forward and backward translations. The resulting instrument was then reviewed by an expert professional and pilot tested with a sample of 10 people with aphasia. RESULTS: Sixty-seven percent of back-translated items matched those in the original instrument. Only 20% of the items in the consensus version needed amendments for the pilot version. The pilot testing showed that the SAQOL-39 had good accessibility (no missing data), acceptability (maximum endorsement frequencies, MEF=or>70%; 9 out of 10 participants had no difficulty) and content validity (8 participants had nothing to add to the questionnaire). CONCLUSIONS: By employing the Mapi approach to linguistic validation, a close matching between the original and the Greek version of the SAQOL-39 was ensured. The Greek SAQOL-39 is accessible and acceptable to people with aphasia. Further research is needed on the psychometric properties of the Greek SAQOL-39 and on its appropriateness as a clinical outcome measure.

Aged↗

[Crossed aphasia with jargon aphasia in two right-handed patients (author's transl)].

Two cases of crossed aphasia in right-handed patients are reported. The oral language of these two patients was characterized by a reduction in its lexical and grammatical content. Their written language, however, was a veritable jargon with anosognosia. The jargon aphasia of the first patient consisted mainly of neologisms. The written language of the second patient was slightly less disorganized and corresponded to an asemantic jargon. The existence of this jargon aphasia gives these two observations an exceptional character in relation to other cases of crossed aphasia in right-handed patients. It supplies new information which can be the basis for discussion on the relations between cerebral laterlization of language functions and manual preference.

Aged↗

Lesion localization in Broca's aphasia. Implications from Broca's aphasia without hemiparesis.

The recent hypothesis that injury of the left precentral gyrus (PCG) is critical in causing Broca's aphasia implies that right hemiparesis is an inevitable accompaniment of Broca's aphasia and not merely a coincidental neighborhood sign of PCG damage. A right-handed man was evaluated for posttraumatic Broca's aphasia. The absence in this case of limb or central facial weakness strongly suggests that language impairments of Broca's aphasia need not be associated with PCG damage.

Adult↗