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Recovery from wernicke's aphasia: A positron emission tomographic study
Author(s) -
Weiller Cornelius,
Isensee Christian,
Rijntjes Michel,
Huber Walter,
Müller Stefan,
Bier Dirk,
Dutschka Klaus,
Woods Roger P.,
Noth Johannes,
Diener Hans Christoph
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410370605
Subject(s) - aphasia , psychology , inferior frontal gyrus , neuroscience , premotor cortex , cerebral blood flow , lateralization of brain function , prefrontal cortex , temporal cortex , middle temporal gyrus , audiology , medicine , functional magnetic resonance imaging , anatomy , cardiology , cognition , dorsum
Changes in the organization of the brain after recovery from aphasia were investigated by measuring increases in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during repetition of pseudowords and during verb generation. Six right‐handed patients who had recovered from Wernicke's aphasia caused by an infarction destroying the left posterior perisylvian language zone were compared with 6 healthy, right‐handed volunteers. In the control subjects, strong rCBF increases were found in the left hemisphere in the posterior part of the superior and middle temporal gyrus (Wernicke's area), and during the generation task in lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) and in inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area). There were some weak right hemisphere increases in superior temporal gyrus and inferior premotor cortex. In the patients, rCBF increases were preserved in the frontal areas. There was clear right hemisphere activation in superior temporal gyrus and inferior premotor and lateral prefrontal cortices, homotopic to the left hemisphere language zones. Increased left frontal and right perisylvian activity in patients with persisting destruction of Wernicke's area emphasizes redistribution of activity within the framework of a preexisting, parallel processing and bilateral network as the central mechanism in functional reorganization of the language system after stroke.