Aphasias Flashcards

1
Q

What is aphasia?

A

A disturbance in language (not speech) as a result of brain damage

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2
Q

List 3 categories of causes of aphasias, giving specific examples

A
Acute onset (stroke, penetrating head injury, surgical resection)
Insidious onset/progressive (dementia, neoplastic change)
Paroxysmal/episodic (focal seizures, migraine)
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3
Q

Describe the lateralisation of language

A

The left hemisphere is dominant for language in ~95% of right handers and 70% of left handers

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4
Q

What is the role of the right hemisphere in language?

A

Non-propositional speech
Prosody
Paralinguistic aspects of speech

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5
Q

Describe the lateralisation of visuospatial function

A

The right hemisphere is dominant for visuospatial function

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6
Q

What cortical regions does the superior division of the middle cerebral artery supply?

A

Sensorimotor cortex

Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

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7
Q

What cortical regions does the inferior division of the middle cerebral artery supply?

A

Temporoparietal cortex

Visual tracts

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8
Q

Describe the location and predominant impairments of a Broca’s aphasia

A

Anterior lesion affecting Broca’s area
Non-fluent aphasia
Loss of grammatical (sequential) structure
Fluent jargonistic language output (neologisms and paraphasic errors e.g. boap for boat)
Impaired comprehension
Right quadrantanopsia

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9
Q

Describe the location and predominant impairments of a Wernicke’s aphasia

A

Posterior lesion affecting Wernicke’s area
Fluent aphasia
Impaired selection of content
Non-fluent, highly effortful language output
Telegrammatic speech
Right face and arm weakness

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10
Q

Describe the two aspects of the language system

A

Production (producing appropriate output sequences, putting words together in a meaningful way making appropriate use of grammar and context)
Selection (choosing appropriate content, picking the right word for the object)

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11
Q

Which language structures are supplied by the superior division of the middle cerebral artery?

A

Broca’s area (composed of pars triangularis and pars opercularis)

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12
Q

Which language structures are contained within the temporoparietal association neocortex?

A

Wernicke’s area
Angular gyrus
Supramarginal gyrus

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13
Q

What results from a severing of the arcuate fasciculus?

A

Conduction aphasia

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14
Q

What are the defining features of a conduction aphasia?

A

Fluent aphasia, but more meaningful than Wernicke’s
Relatively intact auditory comprehension
Poor repetition of words

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15
Q

What are the defining features of a transcortical motor aphasia?

A

Non-fluent aphasia
Muteness at most severe
Repetition preserved

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16
Q

What are the 2 main mechanisms of language recovery?

A
Contralateral transfer (better recovery)
Ipsilateral reorganisation
17
Q

Under what circumstances does contralateral transfer of language function tend to occur?

A

Following early hemispherectomy, in neonatal infarction or with major developmental abnormalities

18
Q

Under what circumstances does ipsilateral reorganisation of language function tend to occur?

A

With a focal developmental abnormality or in adult-onset stroke