title: A topographic study on the evaluation of speech and language in the acute phase of a first stroke.
abstract: Evaluation of speech and language may help in localization of site and extension of brain lesions, particularly in the absence of other neurological signs or radiologically defined injuries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To verify what language tasks are best correlated to which brain regions, in order to develop a test for neurologists in emergency settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-seven adult first-stroke patients were submitted to cognitive and language tests, and then paired with thirty-seven healthy controls. Patients underwent CT and/or MRI for topographic correlation with test results (p<0.05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  All tests were able to distinguish patients from controls, but only word/sentence repetition, naming, ideomotor praxis and, non-significantly, comprehension and counting 1-20 predicted left hemisphere lesions. Repetition was related to perisylvian structures, comprehension to the posterior portion of the middle cerebral artery territory, and fluency to frontal lesions, while naming was accurate only for lesion side.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Language and cognitive tasks can help in the localization of acute stroke lesions.
authors: Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas SP, Brazil.
authors: Fabricio Ferreira
authors: FF
authors: de Oliveira
authors: Benito Pereira
authors: BP
authors: Damasceno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001037:Aphasia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception; D020521:Stroke / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed