Left thalamic infarction and disturbance of verbal memory: a clinicoanatomical study with a new method of computed tomographic stereotaxic lesion localization.
A 41-year-old right-handed man developed disturbances of language and memory after a discrete thalamic infarction. Detailed neuropsychological assessment revealed deficits in verbal fluency, word finding, confrontation naming, and anterograde memory for verbal material. High-resolution computed tomography with stereotaxic lesion localization permitted the determination of the thalamic nuclei involved in the infarction. We suggest that the patient's problem in language and verbal memory reflected a defect in memory processing for verbal material during registration, retention, and retrieval, and that this defect probably resulted from a left anterior thalamic lesion affecting the ventrolateral nucleus, centromedian-parafascicular nuclei complex, internal medullary lamina, or mamillothalamic tract.
D000328:Adult; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D013788:Thalamus / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*