The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

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ArticleTitle	A case of asymbolic alexia with agraphia
Language	J
AuthorList	Hideko Mizuta¹⁾, Minoru Matsuda²⁾, Yasuhiro Fujimoto³⁾
Affiliation	1) Department of Rehabilitation, Itami Municipal Hospital 2) Department of Neurology, Shiga Prefectural Medical Center 3) Department of Neurosurgery, Itami Municipal Hospital
Publication	Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 17 (3), 185-191, 2001
Received	Sep 28, 2000
Accepted	Dec 28, 2000
Abstract	We reported a case of asymbolic alexia with agraphia. A 64-year-old right-handed man developed alexia with agraphia and amnesic aphasia after a left temporal hemorrhage. CT scan revealed the main lesion in the temporo-parieto-occipital junction of the left hemisphere. Although amnesic aphasia had improved, severe alexia with agraphia remained. Alexia with agraphia of the patient was characterized as follows: Alexia with agraphia was seen in both Kanji and Kana, but not in Arabic number. He could neither write spontaneously nor take dictation with either hand. His copying of letters was also disturbed; letter forms were copied without understanding of its meaning and the errors of writing order of strokes were frequently observed. His reading ability was severely impaired and recognition of the meaning of Kanji or Kana characters were also impaired. He manifested no kinesthetic facilitation in reading. The most striking finding was that he could neither correct the wrong orientation of script cards nor point out the errors of letter forms. These characteristics and the results of other tests suggested that he could not evoke the images of the letter in any modality. We speculate that the degradation of images of letters might be a principal cause of this alexia with agraphia.
Keywords	asymbolia, alexia with agraphia, kanji-kana, semantic memory