Yonsei Med J.
2002 Aug;43(4):441-445. 10.3349/ymj.2002.43.4.441.
Reorganization of Cortical Language Areas in Patients with Aphasia: A Functional MRI Study
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Pochon CHA University, Bundang CHA General Hospital, Sungnam, Korea.
- 2Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Research Institute of Clinical Medicine, Chonbuk National University College of Medicine, Chonju, Korea.
- 3Department of Radiology, Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, the Feinberg Neuroscience Institute, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL, USA.
- 4Department of Language and Literature France, Research Institute of Speech Science, Chonbuk National University College of Humanities, Chonju, Korea.
- KMID: 1122001
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2002.43.4.441
Abstract
- The purpose of this study is to delineate the pattern of reorganization of cortical language areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) after rehabilitation therapy in patients with aphasia. Six right-handed aphasic patients were investigated. Causes of aphasia were intracerebral hemorrhages of the left basal ganglia in 3 patients, cerebral infarction of the left MCA in 2, and surgical resection of the frontotemporal lobes to control intractable epilepsy in 1. An auditory sentence completion task was used to activate brain language areas during the fMRI. Three patients with left frontal lesions showed activation in the right inferior frontal lobes while performing language tasks, whereas the other 3, whose lesions located at subcortical areas, showed activation in the bilateral frontal and temporal lobes. Our results demonstrated the differences in interhemispheric reorganization of the language network depending on the location of the lesion in aphasic patients. While the patients with subcortical lesion showed tendency of bilateral frontal activation, those with cortical lesion showed activation of the right frontal lobe.
