Acalculia: an fMRI study with implications with respect to brain plasticity.
We report the case of a 44-year-old right-handed man with severe acalculia and 4 normal age-matched controls. The acalculia patient had magnetic resonance findings of a wedge shaped defect in the left posterior temporal-parietal cortex, involving the angular gyrus, and a lacunar infarct of the right thalamus. Functional magnetic resonance exams were performed utilizing four tasks consisting of serial subtracting by sevens, basic calculation, complex calculation, and abstract calculation. Both patient and controls showed specific task-related activation with some differences that may indicate brain plasticity, even though no significant recovery in calculations abilities was observed in the patient.
Miami Children's Hospital, Department of Radiology, Miami, Florida 33155-3009, USA.
Byron
B
Bernal
Alfredo
A
Ardila
Nolan R
NR
Altman
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008606:Mental Processes; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology