Lesion localization in aphasia with cranial computed tomography and the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Exam

Nineteen stable left-hemisphere stroke patients with aphasia were evaluated by the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) and the Token Test (TT), and by cranial computed tomography (CT). The types of aphasia included Broca (three patients), Wernicke (four patients), conduction (four patients), transcortical motor (four patients), and global (four patients). The lesions, as localized by CT scan, were superimposed onto five composite lesion localization maps for these five aphasia syndromes. There was good correlation between BDAE aphasia type and lesion localization. On CT scans, the locations of cortical language areas lie in a specific relationship to parts of the ventricular system.