CT SCAN CEREBRAL HEMISPHERIC ASYMMETRIES - PREDICTORS OF RECOVERY FROM APHASIA

Individual variations in anatomic cerebral asymmetries have been linke d with specific neurodevelopmental processes, with patterns of cogniti ve ability, and with recovery from focal brain damage. The present stu dy investigated relationships between cerebral asymmetries and recover y from aphasia. Aphasic patients (N = 25) were assessed for language r ecovery for 1 year poststroke, and linear measurements of cerebral asy mmetries were performed on CT scans. Increasing left occipital width a symmetry was associated with faster rate of language recovery and with higher final language scores during the first year poststroke. There was, moreover, a tendency for increasing left occipital width asymmetr y to be associated with less initial impairment. It is hypothesized th at those aspects of neural organization conferring better premorbid la nguage skills are the same factors conferring greater recovery of lang uage skills and that occipital width asymmetry serves as a marker for such individual differences in neural organization.