Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

Atatürk Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Nükleer Tıp Anabilim Dalı, Erzurum
Atatürk Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Psikiyatri Anabilim Dalı, Erzurum
Atatürk Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Nöroloji Anabilim Dalı, Erzurum Aphasia is a disorder of language, acquired secondary to brain damage in the dominant hemisphere [Global aphasia is seen in 10 to 40 of cases of speech disorders in which all modalities of language are affected]. Global aphasia occurs classically a condition that Broca's and Wernicke's areas are together affected. However, global aphasias due to subcortical lesions have also been reported, subcortical global aphasia is very rare, and its pathophsysiology remains unsolved. Two cases with global aphasia whose brain tomographes revealed ischemic Infarct areas at the dominant subcortical regions were evaluated by Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT at 12-15.days after stroke. SPECT of each case demonstrated large cortical hypoperfusion or defects at the frontotemporoparietal regions covering both Broca's and Wernicke's areas. The findings of SPECT suggest that global aphasia occured in two cases with subcortical lesion might be due to large cortical hypoperfusion areas involving classical language areas. Keywords : Aphasia, SPECT