Restoring blood pressure reperfused Wernicke's area and improved language

Longitudinal clinical and imaging data from a patient who sustained a left frontal-temporal stroke with hypoperfusion of the adjacent Wernicke's area are reported. Ris language deficits were partially ameliorated by pharmacol ogically increasing his blood pressure, and were exacerbated when blood pre ssure dropped. There was a striking temporal and statistical correlation be tween mean arterial pressure and language accuracy. MR perfusion imaging sh owed that language gains were accompanied by improved perfusion of Wernicke 's area when mean arterial pressure was increased.