Language disturbances from paramedian thalamic infarcts: a CT method for lesion location

The authors describe the case of three patients suffering from language disorder secondary to mesencephalo-thalamic infarcts. One of them showed the clinical features of transcortical motor aphasia, while the other two presented the typical pattern of the so-called "thalamic aphasia". The CT-stereotaxic method for lesion localization disclosed that the dorso-medial was the mostly involved thalamic nucleus in each case. Since this nucleus is connected both with Broca's and Wernike's areas, the authors suggest that the more or less extensive involvement of the fibres connecting these structures may be responsible for the different aphasic features presented in these cases.