FOREIGN ACCENT SYNDROME FOLLOWING A CLOSED-HEAD INJURY - PERFUSION DEFICIT ON SINGLE-PHOTON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY WITH NORMAL MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

Foreign accent syndrome is a rare speech disorder characterized by the emergence of an apparent foreign accent after an anterior left-hemisp heric lesion. We report a case where the patient experienced foreign a ccent syndrome without other significant neurological deficits, conseq uent to a minor head injury. Results of single photon emission tomogra phy (SPECT) studies suggest abnormal function of the left dorsolateral inferior frontal gyrus (sparing Broca's area) and the caudate nucleus as the underlying functional/anatomic basis of the syndrome, and acou stic analysis showed prosodic and vowel anomalies that contributed to the listener's perception of a ''foreign accent.''