title: Fusiform type alexia: pure alexia for words in contrast to posterior occipital type pure alexia for letters.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To clarify the behavioral differences between patients with pure alexia from different lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two patients with pure alexia caused by damage to the fusiform or posterior occipital gyri were given reading and writing tests including kanji (Japanese morphograms) and kana (Japanese phonetic writing).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patient 1 (pure alexia from a fusiform gyrus lesion) had difficulty reading both kanji and kana, with kanji reading more impaired, and imageability and visual complexity effects (imageable or less complex words/characters were read better than nonimageable or more complex words/characters), whereas patient 2 (pure alexia from a posterior occipital gyri lesion) showed selective impairment of kana reading.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pure alexia for kanji (and kana; fusiform type) is characterized by impairments of both whole-word reading, as represented in kanji reading, and letter identification, and is different from pure alexia for kana (posterior occipital type) in which letter identification is primarily impaired. Thus, fusiform type pure alexia should be designated pure alexia for words, whereas posterior occipital type pure alexia should be designated pure alexia for letters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Mitsui Memorial Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. ysakurai-tky@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yasuhisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Atsuhiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yagishita
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohtsu
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mannen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D020237:Alexia, Pure / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D011932:Reading; D013060:Speech; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D014956:Writing