Glossolalic jargon after a right hemispheric stroke in a patient with Wernicke's aphasia

Abstract

We report the case of a 65-year-old monolingual right-handed man with 5 years of schooling who, after partial recovery of Wernicke's aphasia due to a left temporoparietal lesion, was affected by a second stroke involving the homologous regions in the right hemisphere. The clinical picture after the second stroke was characterized by a severe ‘glossolalic’ jargon: auditory comprehension was only moderately impaired. This case supports the association of severe, disinhibited jargon production with bihemispheric lesions. Furthermore, it indicates that partially preserved auditory comprehension can be found in a patient with bilateral temporal lesions involving Wernicke's area and its mirror region in the right hemisphere.