title: Language testing during awake "anesthesia" in a bilingual patient with brain lesion adjacent to Wernicke's area.
abstract: Awake "anesthesia" is the preferable anesthetic approach for neurosurgical procedures that require intraoperative localization of eloquent brain areas. We describe intraoperative inducible selective English aphasia in a bilingual (English and Italian) patient undergoing awake anesthesia for excision of a brain lesion adjacent to Wernicke's area with no postoperative neurological sequelae. We discuss the importance of intraoperative brain mapping and intraoperative language testing in bilingual patients to prevent iatrogenic-related morbidity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Acherusio 16, Rome 00199, Italy. bilotta@tiscali.it
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bilotta
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stazi
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Delfini
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rosa
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia / Q000379:methods; D001041:Aphasia, Wernicke; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D016292:Procedural Sedation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D014851:Wakefulness