Crossed aphasia after right anterior temporal lobectomy. A case report

The occurrence of crossed aphasia as a complication after temporal lobe epilepsy surgery is extremely rare. We report the case of a 47-year-old right-handed patient with drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) who developed a transitory aphasic syndrome after a right temporal anterior lobectomy. This syndrome was characterized by anomia, poor verbal fluency, verbal perseveration, and verbal comprehension difficulties. He also showed writing difficulties, reading substitutions, and calculation task errors. The patient was regularly assessed with language tasks, and showed a spontaneous and progressive recovery of his symptoms, with remaining naming difficulties. We discuss the role that epileptogenic zone could play in cortical reorganization of the language systems.