title: Language disturbances associated to insular and entorhinal damage: study of a patient affected by herpetic encephalitis.
abstract: The herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) patient reported in this study presented a left hemisphere lesion limited to the left insula and to the left anterior parahippocampal region. The patient was followed longitudinally, focusing on the aphasia type, the language recovery, and the integrity of semantic representations. The language deficit was of fluent type, without phonological impairment, and showed a good but incomplete recovery after four months. A semantic impairment was possible at the onset, but recovered quickly and did not present a disproportionate impairment of living categories.
authors.affiliation: a Health Sciences Department , Neurology Unit, Milan University , S.Paolo Hospital, Milan , Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baratelli
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laiacona
authors.forename: Erminio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Capitani
mesh_terms: D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D020803:Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D018728:Entorhinal Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests
keywords: aphasia; herpetic encephalitis; insula; parahippocampal region; semantics