Acquired language disorders

Advances in structural and functional neuroimaging have allowed researchers to study the neural correlates of aphasia. In general, nonfluent aphasias are associated with left pre-rolandic lesions, and fluent aphasias occur wi th left post-rolandic lesions that spare pre-rolandic areas. However, funct ional neuroimaging studies have shown that neural dysfunction often extends beyond the structural lesion. Recovery of aphasia is better when lesions s pare frontal-subcortical white matter and temporal-parietal cortex. Functio nal neuroimaging studies of aphasia recovery have indicated some right hemi sphere activation, bur better recovery and response to treatment is associa ted with increased left hemisphere activation in regions surrounding struct ural lesions.