Evening star., 1953-02-18
Slight Memory Slips
Moy Mean Broin Lesion
Doctors Shouldn't Ignore
Signs Of Anomic Aphosio
By Thomos R. Henry

Inability to recall familiar name.
such as that Of an old friend met on
the street. may be symptom Of o
serious brain lesion.
It probably happens to everybody.
especially when past middle age. If
the inability persists and seems to grow
worse 1t may indicate q beginning
tumor, or some injury, In or near the
angular cyrus. This Is q small area
Of the cerebral hemisphere. or top Of
the brain, which is about on the
borderline between the temporal and
parietal lobes. The former Is primarily
concerned with hearing and balancing,
the latter with Intentional movement.
This Is the contention Of DR.. Cary
Suter Of the University Of Virginia in
a report on 20 cases to the American
Medical Association. The cases were
examined while he was associated with
the Cleveland Clinic.
Naming failure. he says. may be q
valuable diagnoStic sign that something
is going wrong with a silent area" Of
the brain where brain tumor might
progress for long time without other
wise giving any indication. The condi-
ton is known as "anomic aphaSia."
Trouble with Words.
Says DR.. Suter: 'The person suffer-
ing from anomic aphasia has no diffi.
Guilty with the articulation or UNDER
standing of language. He can speak
quite plainly, spontaneously and usual
ly In fully formed sentences. At times,
however, he comes on a particular
word that he cannot recall. This de-
feet is made more obvious when the
patient is put on the spot by confront
ing him with objects and demanding
that he name them. He recognizes the
object in question, knows its use, and
when various names are suggested ne
eliminates the incorrect ones and
chooses the right one Immediately.
But few minutes later he may have
the same difficulty with the same word.
He may say that pen is something
to write with, but he cannot flnd the
name pen Later, when requested to
write his name he may say let me use
your pen,' without hesitation but when
again confronted with pen and asked
to name it he cannot do so.
"The degree Of language disturbance
may vary tremendously from one SO
slight it is not recognized by the casual
observer to state in which the pa
tient is incoherent and nearly speech.
less. Often memory for proper names
is affected first, the names OF the pa
tents close friends escaping him COM
pletely. AS the names of more persons
and more objects are lost the patient
finds it increasingly difficult to express
himself and may become so exasperated
and embarrassed that he refuses to try
to talk at all"
An Old Problem.
Psychologists have tried to find q rea-
son for the defect for long time.
More than so years ago 1t was poStu-
lated that there was specific naming
center" in the brain, located In the
temporal lobe. Others tried to locate 1t
in different parts of the brain.
The present study shows, DR.. Suter
says, that the defect cannot be specific
ally located but can be placed with
some assurance in certain area OF the
dominant cerebral hemisphere. It often
is ), accompanied by. certain obscure
visual defects. When, this Is the case
the probability Of brain tumor be-
comes greater and further exploration
may be justified.
The reason for the more general area,
he believes, is due to the fact that ahil-
ity to say the name Of an object in.
wolves q rather complex process-tho
recognition Of the object, association
with a word stored In the memory. and
ability to project the association In the
form Of a word. The process may
break down at any of these points.
Each presumably is mediated through
different conglomerations of brain cells.
all in the same general area.
Few physicians are likely to pay any
attention to this form of aphasia un-
less 1t is quite pronounced. This, DR..
Suter believes. is serious mistake.
especially if the difficulty Of recalling
names is associated. with any other
neurological symptoms. These will help
localize the brain defect more precisely.
Visual disturbances accompanying
anomic aphasia constitute suspicious
indication Of brain tumor. If they. are
absent it is probable that some other
sort of brain lesion is responsible.