title: Alexia for Braille following bilateral occipital stroke in an early blind woman.
abstract: Recent functional imaging and neurophysiologic studies indicate that the occipital cortex may play a role in Braille reading in congenitally and early blind subjects. We report on a woman blind from birth who sustained bilateral occipital damage following an ischemic stroke. Prior to the stroke, the patient was a proficient Braille reader. Following the stroke, she was no longer able to read Braille yet her somatosensory perception appeared otherwise to be unchanged. This case supports the emerging evidence for the recruitment of striate and prestriate cortex for Braille reading in early blind subjects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 01778, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Keenan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Catala
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pascual-Leone
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000150:complications* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications; D004411:Dyslexia, Acquired / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000150:complications; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D012682:Sensory Aids; D014110:Touch