GLOBAL APHASIA - WITH AND WITHOUT HEMIPARESIS - A LINGUISTIC AND CT SCAN STUDY

The location and size of brain lesions were compared between two group s of patients showing persisting global aphasia according to the crite ria of the Aachen Aphasia test (AAT). The first group comprised 8 pati ents suffering from severe hemiparesis for more than 18 months. The 10 patients of the second group showed either no hemiparesis at all, or motor disturbance at the onset of the disorder with complete remission within 1 year. The sizes of the brain lesions were determined by mean s of CT scans. The location of the lesions was defined by a statistica l model of the brain with labelled anatomical structure, which allowed an interindividual comparison. In the CT scans, the infarcted areas o f the brains of patients with hemiparesis always extended to the wall of the lateral ventricle, thus including the whole corona radiata with the pyramidal tract. The infarcted areas of the patients without hemi paresis and with transient hemiparesis spared parts of the deep white matter. The data obtained via CT scans are of prognostic value for pat ients with transient hemiparesis, since determination of the extent of the lesion by means of CT permits an initial estimate on the possible later degree and quality of the motor recovery.