Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Case Report

Foreign accent syndrome caused by the left precentral infarction-a case report

Haruki Tokida, ST, Ph.D.1), Yuji Shiga, M.D.2), Yutaka Shimoe, M.D., Ph.D.2), Shigeru Yamori, M.D.1), Akio Tanaka, M.D., Ph.D.3) and Masaru Kuriyama, M.D., Ph.D.2)

1)Department of Rehabilitation, Brain Attack Center Ota Memorial Hospital
2)Department of Neurology, Brain Attack Center Ota Memorial Hospital
3)Department of Radiology, Brain Attack Center Ota Memorial Hospital

A 57-year-old right-handed man was admitted to our hospital because of right facial paresis and acute-onset dysarthria. He presented with non-fluent aphasia. His aphasia gradually improved, but he started speaking with a strange accent and intonation from the fifth hospital day. He was diagnosed with foreign accent syndrome (FAS), which lasted for 2 months. MRI revealed ischemic infarction with edema in the superior, middle, and inferior parts of the left precentral gyrus. One year later, MRI revealed old, small infarct lesions in the left precentral gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and postcentral gyrus. We suspected that FAS developed because of disturbance of prosody in the speaking network on improving his aphasia. His meticulous character was probably influenced on developing FAS. The responsible lesions possibly were those in the reversible parts of the left precentral gyrus with edema on acute stage.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (749K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 57: 293|297, 2017)
key words: foreign accent syndrome, dysprosody, aphasia, left precentral gyrus, MRI

(Received: 13-Dec-16)