The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

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ArticleTitle	Pure anarthria is a precentral gyrus syndrome: a neuroradiologiacal and symptomatological study of 10 cases
Language	J
AuthorList	Minoru Matsuda, Norio Suzuki, Yasuhiro Nagahama, Tomoko Okina, Keiko Hirakawa
Affiliation	Department of Geriatric Neurology, Shiga Prefectural Medical Center
Publication	Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 21 (3), 183-190, 2005
Received
Accepted
Abstract	Ten cases with cerebral infarction presenting pure anarthria were reported. The responsible lesions were determined using magnetic resonance imaging. The overlapping lesion throughout all the 10 cases was the middle portion of the precentral gyrus. Damage to the insular cortex was found in only 2 cases and Broca's area was not included within the infarcted area in any case. These results contrast to the famous reports by Dronkers (1996) or by Hills (2004), insisting that the responsible lesion for apraxia of speec was insular cortex or Broca's area, respectively. The importance of analyzing the lesion in pure cases was stressed as for the methodology studying the responsible lesion for a particular symptom. All the 10 cases presented complete dumbness at the early phase of the disease but they regained communicable speech output in spite of distorted and slow articulation. Hemiparesis and central type paresis of lower face and tongue ware common but they recovered rather soon with contrast to the persistent anarthria. Writing disorders observed in the 7 cases cleared within 3 months since the onset. Buccofacial apraxia was observed at the onset in 7 cases and persisted after 3 months in 4 cases. No cases presented the sign of agrammatism or that of verbal short-term memory impairment.
Keywords	anarthria, pure anarthria, responsible lesion, precentral gyrus