Abstract
Described are 5 patients presenting acute onset global aphasia with slight hemiparesis due to cerebral infarction. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) of the brain revealed left frontal cerebral infarctions without the involvement of primary motor cortex in two patients, and scattered infarction in the left frontal and periventricular white matter and the basal ganglia in three. Additionally conventional angiography or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) were utilized. They revealed the occlusion of the left middle cerebral artery in two patients, and the questionable occlusion of the left middle cerebral artery in one. The occlusion of the left internal carotid artery was observed in one, and the bilateral occlusion of the middle cerebral arteries with moyamoya vessels was seen in the last patient. Also, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) showed hypoperfusion in the diffuse left hemisphere in two of the cases. And left frontal hypoperfusion with mild hypoperfusion in the left temporal or temporo-occipital region in two cases.
Therefore, global aphasia with slight hemiparesis may depend on more extensive areas of hypoperfusion and dysfunction than the lesions demonstrated by brain CT and MRI.
