MRI Brain - Wernicke aphasia  ( Neurology)
Description:  MRI Brain: Left Basal Ganglia, Posterior temporal lobe, and Left cerebellar (lacunar) infarctions with Wernickes Aphasia.

CC: ,Difficulty with speech.,HX:, This 72 y/o RHM awoke early on 8/14/95 to prepare to play golf. He felt fine. However, at 6:00AM, on 8/14/95, he began speaking abnormally. His wife described his speech as "word salad" and "complete gibberish." She immediately took him to a local hospital . Enroute, he was initially able to understand what was spoken to him. By the time he arrived at the hospital at 6:45AM, he was unable to follow commands. His speech was reportedly unintelligible the majority of the time, and some of the health care workers thought he was speaking a foreign language. There were no other symptoms or signs. He had no prior history of cerebrovascular disease. Blood pressure 130/70 and Pulse 82 upon admission to the local hospital on 8/14/95.,Evaluation at the local hospital included: 1)HCT scan revealed an old left putaminal hypodensity, but no acute changes or evidence of hemorrhage, 2) Carotid Duplex scan showed ICA stenosis of 40%, bilaterally. He was placed on heparin and transferred to UIHC on 8/16/95.,In addition, he had noted memory and word finding difficulty for 2 months prior to presentation. He had undergone a gastrectomy 16 years prior for peptic ulcer disease. His local physician found him vitamin B12 deficient and he was placed on vitamin B12 and folate supplementation 2 months prior to presentation. He and his wife felt that this resulted in improvement of his language and cognitive skills.,MEDS:, Heparin IV, Vitamin B12 injection q. week, Lopressor, Folate, MVI.,PMH:, 1)Hypothyroidism (reportedly resolved), 2) Gastrectomy, 3)Vitamin B12 deficiency.,FHX: ,Mother died of MI, age 70. Father died of prostate cancer, age 80. Bother died of CAD and prostate cancer, age 74.,SHX:, Married. 3 children who are alive and well. Semi-retired Attorney. Denied h/o tobacco/ETOH/illicit drug use.,EXAM:, BP 110/70, HR 50, RR 14, Afebrile.,MS: A&O to person and place, but not time. Oral comprehension was poor beyond the simplest of conversational phrases. Speech was fluent, but consisted largely of "word salad." When asked how he was, he replied: "abadeedleedlebadle." Repetition was defective, especially with long phrases. On rare occasions, he uttered short comments appropriately. Speech was marred by semantic and phonemic paraphasias. He named colors and described most actions well, although he described a "faucet dripping" as a "faucet drop." He called "red" "reed." Reading comprehension was better than aural comprehension. He demonstrated excellent written calculations. Spoken calculations were accurate except when the calculations became more complex. For example, he said that ten percent of 100 was equal to "1,200.",CN: Pupils 2/3 decreasing to 1/1 on exposure to light. VFFTC. There were no field cuts or evidence of visual neglect. EOM were intact. Face moved symmetrically. The rest of the CN exam was unremarkable.,MOTOR: Full strength throughout with normal muscle tone and bulk. There was no evidence of drift.,SENSORY: unremarkable.,COORD: unremarkable.,Station: unremarkable. Gait: mild difficulty with TW.,Reflexes: 2/2 in BUE. 2/2+ patellae, 1/1 Achilles. Plantar responses were flexor on the left and equivocal on the right.,Gen Exam: unremarkable.,COURSE:, Lab data on admission: Glucose 97, BUN 20, Na 134, K 4.0, Cr 1.3, Chloride 98, CO2 24, PT 11, PTT 42, WBC 12.0 (normal differential), Hgb 11.4, Hct 36%, Plt=203k. UA normal. TSH 6.0, FT4 0.88, Vit B12 876, Folate 19.1. He was admitted and continued on heparin. MRI scan, 8/16/95, revealed increased signal on T2-weighted images in Wernicke's area in the left temporal region. Transthoracic echocardiogram on 8/17/95 was unremarkable. Transesophageal echocardiogram on 8/18/95 revealed a sclerotic aortic valve and myxomatous degeneration of the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve. LAE 4.8cm, and spontaneous echo contrast in the left atrium were noted. There was no evidence of intracardiac shunt or clot. Carotid duplex scan on 8/16/95 revealed 0-15% BICA stenosis with anterograde vertebral artery flow, bilaterally. Neuropsychologic testing revealed a Wernicke's aphasia.,The impression was that the patient had had a cardioembolic stroke involving a lower-division branch of the left MCA. He was subsequently placed on warfarin. Thoughout his hospital stay he showed continued improvement of language skills and was enrolled in speech therapy following discharge, 8/21/95.,He has had no further stroke like episodes up until his last follow-up visit in 1997.