title: A child with mutism after bilateral thalamic infarction.
abstract: The occurence of mutism after thalamic lesions has rarely been observed before adulthood. We report a 6.5-year-old girl who presented with sudden mutism with a decreased level of alertness. Her MRI revealed a T2-fluid attenuated inversion recovery hyperintensity in both thalami, which suggested bithalamic infarction in the territory of the thalamo-perforating arteries and, more specifically, the para-median territories. Mutism was followed by a deficit of speech initiation with slow and slurred speech. Her speech returned to normal at 3 months after the onset of symptoms. Thus mutism could be the equivalent of akinetic mutism limited to the speech sphere.
authors: Service de Neurologie, Unité de Neuropsychologie et Rééducation du Langage, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) de Poitiers, Université de Poitiers, 2 rue de la Milétrie, 86021, Poitiers, France.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Pluchon
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Jaafari
authors: M-N
authors: MN
authors: Loiseau-Corvez
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Parizel
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Vandermarcq
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Hankard
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Gil
mesh_terms: D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009155:Mutism / Q000209:etiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*