[The role of the right hemisphere on recovery from Wernicke's aphasia].
We report a rare case of severe Wernicke's aphasia who showed a rapid and surprisingly good recovery despite of a large infarct involving the left posterior language area. A 68-year-old right-handed woman without a family history of left-handedness developed a severe comprehension difficulty and paraphasic output following a large infarct in the left posterior temporoparietal region. However, in 6 weeks, naming, comprehension, and repetition of words became almost normal. Spontaneous speech also became almost normal, although comprehension and repetition of sentences remained slightly impaired. The lesion size remained unchanged. A dichotic listening test 4 months after the onset showed clear left ear superiority. We speculate from these observations that the dormant language function in the right hemisphere might have played a role for rapid and good recovery of this case.
Tabuchi
M
M
Section of Neuropsychology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Fujii
T
T
Yamadori
A
A
Onodera
K
K
Endou
K
K
D000368:Aged; D001041:Aphasia, Wernicke / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D013060:Speech