Both developmental and acquired stuttering are related to the function of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical loop, which includes the putamen. Here, we present a case of stuttering- and palilalia-like dysfluencies that manifested as an early symptom of multiple system atrophy-parkinsonian type (MSA-P) and bilateral atrophy of the putamen. The patient was a 72-year-old man with no history of developmental stuttering who presented with a stutter for consultation with our otorhinolaryngology department. The patient was diagnosed with MSA-P based on parkinsonism, autonomic dysfunction, and bilateral putaminal atrophy revealed by T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Treatment with levodopa improved both the motor functional deficits related to MSA-P and stuttering-like dysfluencies while reading; however, the palilalia-like dysfluencies were much less responsive to levodopa therapy. The patient died of aspiration pneumonia two years after his first consultation at our hospital. In conclusion, adult-onset stuttering- and palilalia-like dysfluencies warrant careful examination of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical loop, and especially the putamen, using neuroimaging techniques. Acquired stuttering may be related to deficits in dopaminergic function.
Background: Stuttering is a speech fluency disorder. Although recent studies have shown that most of its etiology is genetic, some parents considered their own caregiving or siblings as the cause of stuttering. This study aimed to address the clinical question associated with whether having siblings increases the risk of stuttering. Methods: We assessed the numbers and proportions of sibship size and birth order of 102 people who stutter (76 males and 26 females; average 11.8 years). In addition, we compared the occurrence of only children and siblings in our stuttering data with those in the 15 th Japanese National Fertility Survey database. Results: There were 22 (21.6%) only children and 80 (78.4%) siblings in our stuttering data, and there were 229 (19.8%) only children and 927 (80.2%) siblings in the 15 th Japanese National Fertility Survey database. A chi-square analysis revealed that the observed frequencies in the siblings' categories were not significantly different from those of only children. Conclusions: The only child proportion of our stuttering population was similar to that of the 15th Japanese National Fertility Survey data. Our findings will assist parents and sibships to encourage self-confidence and prevent negative beliefs in the form of self-blame, guilt or shame associated with stuttering.
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