Transient crossed aphasia and persistent amnesia after right thalamic haemorrhage

A 45-year-old right-handed woman suffered transient aphasia and persistent amnesia after a right thalamic haemorrhage. This patient appeared to have c rossed aphasia, although it disappeared within 8 weeks. It is noteworthy th at the patient had a unilateral right thalamic lesion but exhibited both ve rbal and non-verbal memory impairment. Computed tomography and magnetic res onance imaging revealed cerebral haemorrhage in the right thalamus involvin g the ventral anterior nucleus, medioventral nucleus, mamillothalamic tract , internal medullary lamina, and mediodorsal nucleus. An amytal test was pe rformed and suggested that the right hemisphere was dominant for language f unctions and the left hemisphere was dominant for visuospatial functions. S ingle photon emission CT revealed a low perfusion area only in the right th alamus. These findings suggest that the right hemisphere might be dominant for both verbal and non-verbal memory function in this patient, although vi suospatial function was lateralized in the left hemisphere.