Subcortical crossed aphasia

A 55 year-old, right-handed, hypertensive woman with global aphasia, due to a spontaneous hemorrhage in the right putamen extending to the periventricular white matter was examined thirteen days after the acute onset of stroke. She had left hemiplegia and inability to speak. She displayed no spontaneous speech output and was capable only of occasional undifferentiated grunts in conversation. Other language modalities such as auditory and reading comprehension, naming, repetition and writing were severely impaired. Her aphasia was classified as global aphasia. Forty-five days after the onset of stroke, rapid recovery from the aphasia with mild deficits in speaking, naming, and repetition was detected. This case is a good example of crossed aphasia, favouring the importance of deep structures of the right hemisphere in this type of aphasia. Rapid recovery is an important feature.