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Published on: August 12, 2019
Broca's aphemia: an illustrated account of its clinico-anatomic validity
Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza1, Jorge Moll, Egas M A Caparelli-Dáquer
11Hospital Universitário Gaffrée e Guinle, Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brazil. rdeoliveira@gmail.com
Objective:
To present the case of a 54-year-old man with loss of speech, but with preservation of voluntary facio-lingual motility, language and other cognitive abilities (Broca's aphemia).
Method:
Observation of patient oral communicative abilities and general behavior, neuropsychological assessment and cranial computed tomography.
Results:
Computed tomography showed a hyperdense lesion in the subcortex of the left precentral gyrus corresponding to Brodmann's area 6 and 44. Neuropsychological assessment confirmed that the major cognitive domains were intact.
Conclusion:
Our patient reiterates the validity of Broca's aphemia as a clinico-anatomic entity allowing us to portray it for the first time in pictures. From a neurobehavioral perspective, aphemia is related to apraxia rather than to aphasia, a fact that may have hampered the full grasp of its far-reaching implications for neurology and aphasiology.
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