GAWH : Global Aphasia Without Hemiparesis. Review and case study

Samenvatting

Global aphasia without hemiparesis (GAWH) is a rare, but very interesting syndrome from the point of view of the dissociation between unimpaired motor function and severe linguistic dysfunction. In such cases, dual lesions in the left cerebral hemisphere would be expected, sparing the motor areas but affecting both anterior and posterior perisylvian language areas. But, several studies show that a dual lesion is not necessary to cause a GAWH. We present a study which demonstrates this, in which patient MVS showed a global aphasia despite the presence of only an anterior lesion. This global aphasia evolved over 1 year to a non-specific aphasia with good writing and repetition. Neurocognitive linguistic assessment at 4 months post onset with the PALPA (Bastiaanse et al, 1995) provided the basis for therapy guidelines.