[ Gr. aphasia, speechlessness]
Absent or impaired ability to communicate by speech, writing, or signs because of brain dysfunction. It is considered complete or total when both sensory and motor areas are involved.
acquired epileptiform aphasia
SEE: Anomic aphasia.
Aphasia marked by an inability to name objects; loss of memory for words.
SEE: Word deafness.
SEE: Motor aphasia.
Aphasia marked by an inability to repeat what one has heard and by impaired writing and finding the right word.
Aphasia that develops paradoxically in a right-handed person after a stroke or lesion affecting the right hemisphere.
SEE: Motor aphasia.
Aphasia in which words are easily spoken but are incorrect and may be unrelated to the content of the other words spoken.
Aphasia involving all forms of communication; total inability to communicate.
infantile acquired aphasia
Aphasia that uses jargon or disconnected words.
Combined receptive and expressive aphasia.
Aphasia in which patients know what they want to say but cannot say it because of their inability to coordinate the muscles controlling speech. It may be complete or partial. The Broca area is disordered or diseased.
SYN: SEE: aphemia; SEE: Broca aphasia; SEE: executive aphasia
Inability to name objects.
Aphasia marked by limited vocabulary, hesitant speech, awkward pronunciation, and limited use of grammar but with fairly well preserved auditory comprehension.
Aphasia marked by inability to name an object recognized by sight without the aid of sound, taste, or touch.
primary progressive aphasia
ABBR: PPA A form of dementia marked by the inability to recall the names of things, to read, or to express oneself with speech The disorder gradually worsens and may ultimately produce other cognitive deficits. Early in the course of the disease, other brain functions of daily living are preserved, e.g., understanding speech, behaving properly, and practicing hobbies. PPA is associated with nonspecific degeneration of neurons in the left hemisphere of the brain.
SYN: SEE: Mesulam syndrome; SEE: progressive nonfluent aphasia
progressive nonfluent aphasia
Inability to understand the meanings of words.
Inability to understand spoken words if the auditory word center is involved (auditory aphasia) or written words if the visual word center is affected (word blindness). If both centers are involved, the patient will understand neither spoken nor written words.
Inability to use proper grammatical constructions.
Aphasia in which the ability to repeat words is preserved but other language functions are impaired.
Aphasia caused by head injury.
SEE: Wernicke, Carl
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