Pure agraphia: a discrete form of aphasia

A 62 year old, right handed man developed a pure agraphia as the result of a left temporal lobe stroke. Isolated writing disturbances persisted for seven months until he had a second cerebrovascular accident resulting in total aphasia and right hemiplegia. A CAT scan obtained four months after the first episode showed a localised dilatation of the posterior portion of the left Sylvian cistern and patchy areas of low absorption in the left temporal lobe. The report supports suggestions that localised damage to the language area can produce a pure agraphia as the sole detectable disorder of language organisation.