Crossed aphasia in a patient with complex partial seizures: Evidence from intracarotid amobarbital testing, functional cortical mapping, and neuropsychological assessment

Abstract

We report a right-handed patient who became transiently aphasic following a right temporal lobectomy for control of intractable complex partial seizures. Pre-operative intracarotid amobarbital testing revealed right-hemisphere language dominance, although bilateral language representation was present. Memory testing during unilateral electrical hippocampal simulation with depth electrodes indicated reliance on left-hemisphere mesial temporal lobe structures for verbal memory. Functional mapping for language during surgery established several right perisylvian regions that, when stimulated, produced speech arrest and/or paraphasic substitution. One-year follow-up neuropsychological assessment demonstrated an increase in verbal learning and decrease in visual memory, a pattern associated with patients who have undergone right temporal lobectomy. These data demonstrate that (1) right cerebral language dominance can be observed when ipsilateral seizure onset is present (2) verbal memory and language dominance are not necessarily linked, and (3) some reported cases of crossed aphasia may in fact have bilateral language representation.