Speech and Language Dysfunctions in Patients with Cerebrocortical Disorders Admitted in a Neurosurgical Unit

Speech and language abnormality among brain injury patients are common, especially during the acute stage. The details of same from Andhra Pradesh (AP) state are limited. The present study provides details of speech and language abnormality among brain damage patients, from a tertiary care hospital AP.

This study was conducted at tertiary care hospital, Nellore, AP. Patients with acute brain damage due to traumatic brain injury (TBI), cerebrovascular accident (CVA), and postoperative cases of brain tumors were selected for the study. Detail of speech and language disturbances was accessed using Western Aphasia Battery. All patients were right-handed and Telugu was their first language.

There were totally 38 patients, of them 28 had TBI, 8 patients were postoperative cases of brain tumor, and 2 cases were of CVA. The mean age was 45.6 years. A total of 22 patients were literate. TBI patients with left cerebral hemisphere damage manifested with anomic, conduction, transcortical sensory, global, and Wernicke's aphasia. Four patients of postoperative brain tumor manifested with anomic and transcortical sensory aphasia had left-sided brain damage and mild dysarthria had right-sided brain damage patient. CVA patients had anomic aphasia and subcortical aphasia having right and left cerebral hemisphere damage, respectively.

This study reports that acute brain damage due to various causes manifest with speech and language abnormality, especially when the left cerebral hemisphere is involved.