title: Neuropsychological deficits in a child with a left penetrating brain injury.
abstract: This case study reports neuropsychological and structural magnetic resonance (MRI) studies of a 10-year-old girl with a left hemisphere lesion, caused by an underwater fishing harpoon penetrating her head when she was 6 years old. The patient showed a marked deficit in the acquisition of reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as an attentional deficit. Magnetic resonance images revealed left cortical lesions in the orbital region and the gyrus angularis, as well as in the caudate and putamen nuclei and longitudinal inferior fascicle. Neuropsychological assessment showed frontal and parietal lobe dysfunctions consistent with the lesional data. The structural data explain the neuropsychological impairment and suggest that, although the left lesion was early and relatively small, plasticity was incomplete.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychobiology, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Roman
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salgado-Pineda
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bartrés-Faz
authors.forename: Juan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Navarro
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martínez-Lage
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: López-Hernández
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bargalló
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Junqué
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D020197:Head Injuries, Penetrating / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000209:etiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010291:Paresis / Q000209:etiology*