Differential recovery of languages in a bilingual patient: a case study using selective amytal test.
We performed a selective Wada test on a bilingual patient. While a left middle cerebral artery (MCA) injection produced global aphasia for both (Spanish and English) languages, the patient could only speak Spanish (his mother tongue) 1 min after he started to speak English. No language disturbances were observed after a right MCA amytal injection. These findings suggest that all of a multilingual's languages are stored within the verbal-dominant perisylvian region, and while the second language may be organized within the central Sylvian core, the first language may be better represented in more distal perisylvian areas.
Institute of Neurological Research, Dr. Raul Carrea, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
M L
ML
Berthier
S E
SE
Starkstein
P
P
Lylyk
R
R
Leiguarda
D000328:Adult; D000654:Amobarbital; D015901:Angiography, Digital Subtraction; D001037:Aphasia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic; D006801:Humans; D002538:Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations / Q000628:therapy*; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology
D000654:Amobarbital