Wernicke's Sensory Aphasia

Abstract

IN THE Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, dating from the 17th century BC, an association was noted between temporal skull trauma and loss of speech. 1 Nevertheless, before the work of Broca, the brain was generally thought to act as a whole, with no anatomical localization of the different cerebral functions. 2,3 In 1861, Paul Broca presented two cases of dysphasia associated with lesions in the posterior portions of the second and third left frontal convolutions. 4,5 Although Broca underestimated the extent of the lesions in his first patient, his provocative presentations provided an early anatomical localization for the expressive aspects of speech. 3 In 1874, the German neuropsychiatrist, Carl Wernicke (1848 to 1905), 6-9 published a short monograph in which he used simple anatomical diagrams to present a more comprehensive view of speech mechanisms. 10 Wernicke described five clinical syndromes that would be expected from lesions of (1) the