Association of basal ganglia damage with Chinese agraphia

Abstract

Abstract: Objective To study the clinical features of Chinese agraphia caused by basal ganglia damage. Methods The Chinese speaking and writing abilities of 38 patients with basal ganglia damage were evaluated with aphasia battery and agraphia battery of Chinese, respectively, and the agraphia quotient (AgQ) and the scores for writing abilities calculated. Results Of the 38 patients, 21 had left basal ganglia injury, which was responsible for aphasia in 18 and agraphia also in 18 patients. Another 14 patients had right basal ganglia injury and caused aphasia in 1 case and agraphia in 4. The rest 3 patients had injuries of the basal ganglia on both sides that resulted in aphasia in all and agraphia in 2 of them. Significant diferrence was noted in the incidence of agraphia between patients with left and those with right basal ganglia injuries, characterized by difficulty in building the Chinese characters, mistakes in writing the characters and disability of writing at the level of sentences and paragraphs of Chinese. Conclusion Basal ganglia damage may result in Chinese agraphia, due to, hypothetically, hypoperfusion, dysfunction of integration center, circuit damage and impaired function in extracting the graphical features of the Chinese characters from memory.

CLC Number:

R742

JIN Mei¹, LIU Xiao-jia¹, LU Bin-xun¹, YIN Wen-gang². Association of basal ganglia damage with Chinese agraphia[J]. Journal of Southern Medical University, 2004, 24(05): 559-562.

References

[1] 杨峰,戴学军,漆松涛.外伤性脑梗死临床分析及防治[J].第一军医大学学报,2003,23(4):391-2.Yang F, Dai X J, Qi ST. Analysis and prevention of cerebral infarction in patients with traumatic brain injury [J]. J First Mil Med Univ/Di Yi Jun Yi Da Xue Xue Bao, 2003, 23(4): 391-2.
[2] 包新民,舒斯云.纹状体边缘区的结构和功能研究进展[J].第一军医大学学报,2002,22(4):289-95.Bao XM, Shu SY. Research progress in the structure and functions of the marginal division in the striatum[J]. J First Mil Med Univ/Di Yi Jun Yi Da Xue Xue Bao, 2002, 22(4): 289-95.
[3] 高素荣.失语症[M].北京医科大学·中国协和医科大学联合出版社,1993 31-5.
[4] 刘晓加.汉语失写检查法及其在失写症检查中的临床应用[J].第一军医大学学报,1995,15(3):253-5.Liu XJ. Design of a Chinese agraphia battery and its preliminary application[J]. J First Mil Med Univ/Di Yi Jun Yi Da Xue Xue Bao,1995, 15(3): 253-5.
[5] Scholz VH, Flaherty AW, Kraft E, et al. Laterality, somatotopy and reproducibility of the basal ganglia and motor cortex during motor tasks[J]. Brain Res, 2000, 879(1-2): 204-15.
[6] 王新德.镜像书写与大脑功能关系的探讨[J].中国神经精神疾病杂志(Chin J Nero Ment Dis),1992,18(6):345-7.
[7] 吴永明,舒斯云,包新民,等.人脑纹状体边缘区参与听觉数字工作记忆的功能磁共振研究[J].第一军医大学学报,2002,22(12):1096-8.Wu YM, Shu SY, Bao XM, et al. Role of the marginal division of human neostriatum in working memory capacity for numbers received through hearing: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study [J]. J First Mil Med Univ/Di Yi Jun Yi Da Xue Xue Bao,2002, 22(12): 1096-8.
[8] Moro A, Tettamanti M, Perani D, et al. Syntax and the brain: disentangling grammar by selective anomalies[J]. Neuroimage, 2001, 13(1):110-8.
[9] Kotz SA, Frisch S, von Cramon DY, et al. Syntactic language processing: ERP lesion data on the role of the basal ganglia [J]. J Int Neuropsychol Soc, 2003, 9(7): 1053-60.
[10] Ni W, Constable RT, Mencl WE, et al. An evant-related neuroimaging study distinguishing form and content in sentence processing [J]. Cogn Neurosci, 2000, 12(1): 120-33.
[11] Nadeau SE, Crosson B. Subcortical aphasia[J]. Brain Lang, 1997,58(3): 355-402.
[12] 郭富强,杨友松,余能伟,等.高血压脑出血后局部脑血流与皮层下失语变化的相关性研究[J].中华物理医学与康复杂志,2000,22(6):346-8.Guo FQ, Yang YS, Song WZ, et al. Correlation between a serial changes of subcortial aphasia and rCBF after hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage[J].Chin J Phys Med Rehabil, 2000, 22(6): 346-8.
[13] Naeser MA, Alexander MP, Helm-Estabrooks N, et al. Aphasia with predominantly subeortical lesion sites: Description three capsular putaminal aphasia syndromes[J]. Arch Neurol, 1982, 39(1): 2-14.
[14] Parsons LM, Osherson D. New evidence for distinct right and left brain systems for deductive versus probabilistic reasoning[J]. Cereb Cortex, 2001, 11(10): 954-65.
[15] Dmartin-Loeches M, Hinojosa JA, Gomez-Jarabo G, et al. An early electrophysiological sign of semantic processing in basal extrastriate areas[J]. Psychophysiology, 2001, 38(1): 114-24.
[16] Ullman MT. A neurocognitive perspective on language: the declarative/procedural model [J]. Nat Rev Neurosci, 2001, 2(10): 717-26.
[17] Damasio AR, Damasio H. Brain and Language[J]. Sci Am, 1992,267(3): 88-95.