Aphasia and herpes virus encephalitis: a case study

Abstract

CONTEXT: Meningoencephalitis early in life, of any etiology, is a risk factor for development of subsequent sequelae, which may be of physical, psychiatric, behavioral or cognitive origin. Anomia is a language abnormality frequently found in such cases, and other language deficits are rarely described. The aim of this study was to describe the cognitive and linguistic manifestations following a case of herpetic meningoencephalitis in a 13-year-old patient with eight years of schooling. CASE REPORT: The patient underwent a speech-language audiology assessment nine months after the neurological diagnosis. The battery of tests included the Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment test protocol (MT Beta-86, modified), the description from the Cookie Theft task of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE), an informal assessment of the patient's logical and mathematical reasoning, and the neuropsychological subtests from the WAIS-III scale, which assess working memory. The patient presented mixed aphasia, impairment of short-term memory and working memory, and dyscalculia. This case also presented severe cognitive and linguistic deficits. Prompt diagnosis is crucial, in order to enable timely treatment and rehabilitation of this neurological infection and minimize the cognitive deficits caused by the disease.

Postseizure aphasia in Wernicke's encephalopathy: a case report and review of literature

“…A 2012 Brazilian case report details anomic aphasia, or the misidentification of objects using related words (saying “comb” instead of “hair”) in a 13-year-old patient with herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE). 9 Another case report from Italy notes a similar difficulty in naming objects in patients with HSE, particularly living objects (fruits, vegetables, and animals). 10 None of the elements of our patient’s exam are consistent with anomic aphasia.…”

Audiological findings in aphasic patients after stroke

“…( 4 ) Furthermore, when a patient presents with a CVA, hearing loss can impede and affect both the evaluation process and speech rehabilitation, as several linguistic skills depend on peripheral and central auditory perception. We know that comprehension is always impacted in aphasic post-CVA patients to varying degrees ( 5 ) because it is a widely reported central component, ( 6 ) but it is not always clear whether some component of peripheral hearing is also damaged or how this component could affect the central processing of acoustic information. However, systemic studies on how to measure peripheral auditory acuity in aphasic individuals are lacking.…”

“…( 4 ) Além disso, quando o paciente tem um AVE, a perda auditiva pode impedir e afetar tanto o processo de avaliação quanto a reabilitação da fala, já que várias habilidades linguísticas dependem da percepção auditiva periférica e central. Sabemos que a compreensão está sempre afetada em pacientes afásicos após o AVE em graus variados, ( 5 ) estando o componente central bem descrito, ( 6 ) mas não está claro se algum componente da audição periférica também está alterado, ou de que forma tal componente poderia afetar o processamento central de informação acústica. Apesar disso, faltam estudos sistemáticos que revelem como se encontra a acuidade periférica em indivíduos com afasia.…”