Aphonia due to paramedian thalamo-subthalamic infarction. Remarks on two cases

We describe two patients in whom CT brain scans imaged paramedian thalamo-subthalamic infarcts in the territory of the thalamo-mesencephalic arteries. Such infarcts give rise to a complex syndrome marked by disturbances of consciousness and of eye movement and neuropsychological disorders, including attentional, memory and, more rarely, language deficits. A loss of voice volume may accompany aphasic disturbances but is exceedingly rare in isolation. In the cases described the aphonia, total but transient, was the only language disorder. The physiopathological mechanisms involved in aphonia are complex and controversial.