Brain regions essential for improved lexical access in an aged aphasic patient : a case report

Abstract

The relationship between functional recovery after brain injury and concomitant neuroplastic changes is emphasied in recent research. In the present study, we aimed to delineate brain regions essential for language performance in aphasia using functional magnetic resonance imaging and acquisition in a temporal sparse sampling procedure, which allows monitoring of overt verbal responses during scanning. An 80-year old patient with chronic aphasia was investigated before and after intensive language training using an overt picture naming task. Differential brain activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus for correct word retrieval and errors was found. imrproved language performance following therapy was mirrored by increased fronto-thalamic activation while stability in more general measures of attention did not show behavioral changes or increased activation when tested repeatedly within the same 2-week time interval.