Conduction aphasia in patients with glioma in the left hemisphere

Abstract

Syndromic analysis of speech and writing disorders in patients with arcuate tract lesion using the method by A.R. Luria and their comparison with well-known types of aphasia. Clinical and neuropsychological survey was performed in 14 patients with gliomas who underwent surgical treatment at the Burdenko Neurosurgical Center (10 gliomas of the frontal lobe and 4 tumors of the temporal lobe). All patients underwent MRI, HARDI MRI tractography and A.R. Luria's neuropsychological examination prior to surgery and after 5-6 postoperative days. Thirteen patients underwent awake craniotomy, 3 of them were examined one year after surgery. In all patients, the tumor was localized near arcuate tract and its infiltration was noted. No intraoperative damage to the tract was ever noted according to speech monitoring data. However, postoperative edema followed by infiltration and dislocation of the tract (in all patients), as well as local ischemia in 4 patients were observed. After resection of prefrontal and premotor gliomas, aphasia included frontal (perseveration) and temporal components (disorders of naming, auditory-speech memory). Unusual verbal paraphrases were noted. We also observed severe violation of writing (temporal type) even if spontaneous speech and repetition were preserved. In case of resection of deep posterior temporal gliomas, speech disorders included signs of frontal lobe lesion (perseveration) and writing disorders. Similar motor abnormalities were identified in writing. Arcuate tract lesion can result speech and writing disorders as signs of damage to certain cortical speech zones (frontal and temporal lobe). Violations of repetition were not predominant in any case. At the same time, interruption of connection between motor and auditory image of the word could be revealed in writing.