Isolated dysarthria in stroke- a clinical study [İnmede ızole dizartri-Klinik Çalışma]

Background and purpose: dysarthria is a speech disorder that is common in cerebral lesions. pure dysarthria is a very rare form of lacunar syndromes. the purpose of this study is to clarify the clinical picture and the anatomic site of the lesions causing pure dysarthria. methods: twenty-nine patients with sudden onset of pure dysarthria due to acute ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke confirmed by cranial computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging were included. dysarthria was evaluated within the first 72 hours after stroke onset and at the end of the first week. dysarthria was graded as mild,moderate or severe. results: neuroimaging showed supratentorial lesions (86.2%) which were located in corona radiata in 13 patients,frontal lobe in 3,posterior limb of the internal capsule in 2,external capsule in 2,thalamus in 2,insular area in 2 and parietal cortex in 1 patient. in 4 patients (13.8%),the infratentorial region was affected. in all patients with infratentorial involvement,the lesions were located in the paramedian pontin area. supratentorial and infratentorial lesions were also more frequent on the left. conclusions: in our study corona radiata involvement was more frequent in patients with pure dysarthria than the other regions. pure dysarthria was more frequent in corona radiata lesions due to selective involvement of corticobulbar tract. © 2016,ege university press. all rights reserved.