Attentional dysfunction and word-finding difficulties are related to semantic jargon after a thalamic lesion: a case report

Figures & data

Figure 1. Computed tomography of the patient’s brain.

Left thalamic hemorrhage with ventricle rupture as seen immediately after the hemorrhage (day 1), and the same area at year 2 post onset. The lesion mainly involved middle-to-posterior parts of the thalamus, including the pulvinar, lateral posterior, centromedian, and reticular nuclei.

Table 1. Results of neuropsychological assessments.

			Year post onset
			2	4	8
Intelligence	WAIS PIQ		–	50	68
	RCPM		78%	78%	89%
Attention	Attentional Rating Scale (scale of 0, no deficit to 56, most severe)		52	44	30
	Visual cancellation of triangles: omissions		41%	0%	0%
	Visual cancellation of triangles: false positives		12%	7%	3%
Language	SLTA score (scale of 0–10)		5	7	6
	SLTA, single-word comprehension (correct answers)		60%	80%	100%
	TLPA (naming)	Correct answers	21%	18%	32%
		Irrelevant paraphasia	29%	9%	5%
		Relevant paraphasia	14%	6%	10%
		Formal paraphasia	0%	0%	0%
		Phonological paraphasia	2%	1%	0%
		Neologism	2%	0%	2%
		Perseveration	5%	3%	1%
		No response	27%	63%	50%

RCPM: Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices; SLTA: Standard Language Test of Aphasia (standardized battery of tests most commonly used to evaluate patients with aphasia in Japan); TLPA: Test of Lexical Processing in Aphasia (used to detail naming abilities of patients with aphasia in Japan); WAIS PIQ: Performance Intelligence Quotient test in the Japanese version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.

Figure 2. Changes in linguistic and neuropsychological function over the course of the study. The decline in the patient’s irrelevant paraphasias correlated with improved attentional function but not with intelligence or word-retrieval ability. CAT = Clinical Attention Assessment Test; RCPM = Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices; TLPA = Test of Lexical Processing in Aphasia.