Transient fixation on a non-native language associated with anaesthesia.
We report a patient with the unusual language disturbance of transient fixation on a non-native language after otherwise uneventful general anaesthesia. The patient was unable to speak his native language for a period of 5-10 min, despite a desire to do so. He fully and spontaneously recovered from the episode. The phenomenon raises a number of interesting questions about the nature of human language, anaesthesia and consciousness. We discuss our patient in the context of some of these questions and present a review of three similar patients reported in the anaesthetic literature.
Webster
C S
CS
Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Medicine, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92-019, Auckland, New Zealand. cw@clear.net.nz
Grieve
R O S
RO
D000768:Anesthesia, General / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D011183:Postoperative Complications