Delineating communication impairments associated with mild traumatic brain injury: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) without frank neurological disturbance has been linked to persistent physical, cognitive, and affective disturbances in some cases. The cognitive sequelae of this syndrome represent the most frequently studied symptoms, yet the legacy of such injuries on communicative functions remains largely undetermined.


METHODS
A detailed language profile of a 19-year-old woman, 1 year 10 months following mTBI is compared with a matched normative cohort of 10 participants with nonneurological impairment.


RESULTS
Deficits in attention, lexical access, complex lexical-semantic manipulation, response monitoring, and organization were revealed as a consequence of mTBI.


CONCLUSIONS
This profile provides support for hypotheses pertaining to neuronal fallout mechanisms within the frontal lobes as a consequence of mild neurological insult.
Whelan
Brooke-Mai
BM
Motor Speech and Neurogenic Language Research Centre, Division of Speech Pathology, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. bmw@uq.edu.au
Murdoch
Bruce E
BE
Bellamy
Nicholas
N
D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003147:Communication Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology